Sparks Will Fly
Step aside Medicaid expansion. The big uproar in the General Assembly this year is over who gets the final say over the shape of Virginia’s Clean Power Plan: General Assembly Republicans or Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe. At stake is the future of Virginia’s electric grid. Democrats and their allies are pushing for 30% renewable energy by 2030 […]
Hospital Finances Show a Profitable Industry
Once again, the financial numbers from the hospital industry show that it is doing very well overall. Close to 80% of the hospitals in our state are profitable. The number of hospitals running operating deficits have decreased each of the last three years. Our study last month showed that the hospitals had made, industrywide, a year […]
Second Thoughts on Second-Hand Smoke
“We find no evidence that legislated U.S. smoking bans were associated with short term reductions in hospital admissions for [heart attack] acute myocardial infarction or other diseases in the elderly, children or working-age adults.” This startling conclusion comes from four authors in the Congressional Budget Office, RAND Corporation, Center for Primary Care – Stanford University, […]
Health Care Reform That Makes Sense
Momentum is building for the Virginia General Assembly to pass long-overdue changes to the Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law. Under the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act, 49 states implemented COPN laws in order to receive federal funding. This law was originally intended to control costs by requiring the State Health Commissioner to […]
Virginia’s Hospital Finances Looking Good
Earlier this week, the Thomas Jefferson Institute published a study, “How are Virginia’s Hospitals Doing Today – A Review of Hospital Finances,” showing a detailed listing of the profits and losses and the net worth of the 154 hospitals listed on the Virginia Hospital Information website (HERE) Immediately the Virginia Hospital Association (VHA) put its “spin team” to work trying to explain the numbers by saying […]
Facts Regarding Red Meat, Cancer Scare
The World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) issued a report in late October claiming processed meat causes cancer. IARC reviewed epidemiological studies and decided to classify the consumption of processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans” and consumption of red meat as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. IARC did not do any new research. It […]
Reform for Better Health Care
Now that the Supreme Court has determined that the Obamacare entitlement is here to stay, let’s work toward reforming our health care system in ways that make sense. Virginia is one of 36 states that still has Certificate of Public Need laws (COPN) on the books. This law stems from a federal mandate more than […]
Health Care Should Be Reformed
The Supreme Court decided Obamacare is here to stay. It has given its “constitutional seal of approval” twice in two years to this massive new federal entitlement program and that means any changes will have to be accomplished legislatively and not through the courts. Obamacare may be altered, reformed, and redesigned over the years but […]
Obamacare’s Results and Its Future
The Supreme Court will decide within the week whether Obamacare continues as is, or will this huge federally funded entitlement program be dramatically wounded with its ability to pay for this massive program severely crippled. This debate over Obamacare will not end with this decision. The national debate will continue at least through next year’s […]
Yet Another Pending Obamacare Problem
Once again the lack of business understanding by the federal government is going to harm the competitiveness of our small and mid-sized businesses. And again it is because of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare as it is known. The lack of business expertise by those who crafted this system has haunted it from the […]