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The Obama Administration apparently has decided to quit postponing the inevitable, and is ready for the Supreme Court to rule on health care reform.

It was a development that came out of inaction – the Department of Justice had until 5 p.m. Monday to file paperwork asking the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to rehear a health care reform case ruled upon earlier this year. Such a move would have further delayed the case from making its way to the Supreme Court, and opponents had expected that to happen. In fact, nothing happened, which in this case, was

The financially pressured state of California is attempting to move toward a Medicaid system in which beneficiaries make higher co-pays, and have limited access to care. Medicaid, the nation’s health program for the impoverished, is administered by states, and will expand by about a third under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

States are chaffing at the prospect of eventually having to foot the bill for part of this expansion – Medicaid is funded jointly by states and the federal government. California is attempting to cut its costs by seeking waivers from

Earlier this year, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council published “The State Legislators Guide to Repealing Obamacare,” a political roadmap for opposing health care reform.

In general, the guide recommended that state legislators take a kind of do-nothing approach toward enacting provisions of health care reform. “States should let federal bureaucrats spend their own time, money and political capital to enforce the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” the guide stated.

Among other things, it recommended that legislators not accept federal

When government planners envisioned the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program (PCIP) under the new health care law, they projected that it would be swamped by Americans wanting and needing good, affordable coverage. So officials set up insurance exchanges for all 50 states, and braced themselves for the crowd of applicants. It never materialized.

Enrollment has been dismally low, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

PCIP was established in 2010 under health care reform and intended to

Former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin commissioned a study on health care reform last year before he left office, but Republican Gov. Scott Walker is now in charge. The result: A political disconnect over exactly what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 will mean to Wisconsin.

Upon completion of the study last week, the state’s Office of Free Market Health Care issued a press release warning that the new health care law will:

–Make people purchase more

The legal battle in federal courts over health care reform has produced split rulings, but there is a pattern suggesting that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 will likely remain mostly intact.

At last count, six federal courts had ruled on the law, and all the rulings focused upon the individual mandate – the part of the law requiring all Americans to have health insurance in 2014. The rulings are divided on whether the individual mandate is constitutional.

Only one ruling, by District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida, declared that the individual mandate

Reports surfaced last week that repeal of the individual mandate was being used a bargaining chip in negotiations over the nation’s debt ceiling. It would seem that this is just what Republicans would want – a severe blow to the much-maligned Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Not so.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a longtime critic to health care reform, quickly dismissed the idea and called it a “crazy deal,” according to a Slate blog by David Wiegel.

Medicare, the government’s insurance program for the people 65 and older, is in the crosshairs of budget-cutters in Washington. That’s nothing new. In fact, we just initiated a wave of Medicare changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

The Obama Administration estimates that health care reform will save the Medicare program $575 billion over a decade. But upon closer examination, about $300 billion in savings seem possible. Savings might come from eliminating the Medicare Improvement Fund, reducing payments to safety net hospitals, reducing payments to

Certainly one of the most confusing moments in the debate over the debt ceiling occurred Friday afternoon when President Obama told the media that he was considering means testing for Medicare. What he failed to mention was that Medicare Part B, which covers doctor’s visits, and Part D, which covers drugs, already are means tested. Moreover, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 includes provisions that increase the number of Medicare beneficiaries who must pay higher premiums because they have higher incomes.

Some reporters understood this; some didn’t. For

Historically, states have been reluctant to get into the health insurance business, even to provide coverage for residents who would otherwise go uninsured. For example, in 1960 President Eisenhower signed the Kerr-Mills Act to provide states with federal grants that could be used to pay medical bills for the indigent and elderly. Only 28 states decided to participate, and many of them made only halfhearted attempts. Five years later, we got Medicare and Medicaid instead.

Now enter the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and states are dragging their feet again. The