Proponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) have claimed that states will be given broad powers to control private health insurance premiums, making health plans affordable again. Can we really anticipate relief from the outrageous prices of private health plans?

The commission members understand that health care is the greatest contributor to our federal budget deficit. Most of them recognize that the health spending recommendations in their final report are inadequate to control continuing cost escalation.

What services do the private insurers provide for us? Processing claims? They won’t even do that right 20 percent of the time, according to this California audit. The total of $5 million in fines that they were assessed is so paltry that they have no incentive to discontinue their highly profitable policy of delaying and denying legitimate claims.

Single payer advocates frequently are perplexed by Uwe Reinhardt’s positions on health care reform.

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz understands single payer. President Obama knows that he does. So why doesn’t…

The basic premise that our prices are higher than those of other nations is certainly correct. But the claim that we “subsidize innovation for everyone” needs to be challenged.

This study of the impact of high-deductible health plans is unique in that it studied only families with over $500 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses, thus they are families that do have some interaction with the health care system.

Congressman Paul Ryan and former Clinton budget director Alice Rivlin are both members of the Bowles/Simpson deficit commission. They have asked the Congressional Budget Office to analyze their proposal to reduce future federal health care expenditures by converting Medicare to a voucher program for purchasing private health plans, and by converting Medicaid into a block-grant program for the states.

The initial reaction to S. 3958, The Empowering States to Innovate Act, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), is that the bill will enable states to bypass the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and set up their own state-based programs, even single payer should the states prefer. But what does the bill actually say?

Compared to other high-income nations, the health care financing system in the United States does not perform well. We pay more; we have greater problems paying medical bills; we have excessive out-of-pocket spending; we have greater hassles with insurers; and we have the greatest disparities in access and affordability based on income levels.