MPI Free Market Health Care Resources
Your antidote to government-run health care
Key Handouts from MPI's Free Market Health Care Forum
MPI Policy Paper: "The Risks and Promises From National Health Care Reform: A Montana Perspective" by Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics
The Lewin Group: "Analysis of the Draft of the American Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 for Montana"
CPRRights.org: "The Push for Government Run Health Care." A collection of quotes demonstrating the true intent of politicians who say they're not leading towards a single payer system.
CPRRights.org: "Facts About the Canadian and United Kingdom Health Care systems."
CATO Institute: "Your New Doctor" New York Times ad.
The Heritage Foundation: "How a 5.4% Surtax on High Earners Hits Taxpayers, State by State"
Other Free Market Health Care Reform Resources
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(Newer Posts are at the bottom)
CFIF.org Video: "Health Care Reform Without Medical Liability Reform is No Reform At All"
ACLU Video on Health Care Privacy - You have to watch this if you don't watch anything else on this page!
Washington Policy Center has three videos that do a nice job of laying out the issues here.
A satirical look at Government-run health care that's probably too true for comfort is here:
PERC's Terry Anderson has an excellent WSJ article on health care for our Native Americans on Montana's reservations.
From the Heritage Foundatin: Why the "Trigger" Option is a Bad Idea
CATO's Michael Cannon deconstructing the Massachusetts health care system. It didn't bring down costs and it doesn't cover everyone.
Official site for UK medical care waiting times. Not user friendly but if you want the data it's here.
Comments on the president's Sept. 9th Speech:
Powerline Blog
Heritage Foundation Fact Check
Americans for Tax Reform Top Five Tax Fibs
CATO live commentary on the speech itself
Michael Cannon translating the president's speech
Michael Tanner providing analysis in the New York Post
This is a bit of a slog, but it lays out the argument against mandates (among other things) pretty well. Mandates by Dr. McKalip. 
Sen. Baucus's Chairman's Mark America's Healthy Future Act.
ATR's list of tax increases with the Baucus Plan.
Stuart Butler from Heritage has a quick take on the Baucus plan.
65% of doctors oppose health care overhaul according to a poll by Investor's Business Daily
If Canadian care is so good, how do these people stay in business? Good old fashioned capitalism at work.
Summary of proposed amendments to the Baucus plan. There are 564 of them, broken down in three categories.
Cato's Michael Cannon on why mandates are just 'a species of rather than an alternative to government-run health care.'
Reconciliation 101 from the Heritage Foundation for those interested in the nuclear option.
Another one from Heritage. This on the impact of current proposals on small business.
A primer on actuarial equivalence from the American Academy of Actuaries. A little geeky, but this is how your HSA/HSR gets taken away under current plans in both houses of congress.
Here are two polls of health care providers done by the physicians' group Sermo. Both indicate strong disagreement with government options. Poll 1 Poll 2.
How the Baucus Bill Hurts State Budgets from Heritage.
Comments from Cato's Michael Tanner and Michael Cannon on the CBO's scoring of the Baucus Bill. Bottom line, to the extent it's deficit neutral, it does it by raising health industry taxes that will be passed on to you.
The Heritage Foundation take on both the CBO's bill scoring process and the so-called 'vapor bill' option to sneak a health care 'reform' through.
Susan Ferrechio from the National Examiner. Who picks up the $829 tab for health care 'reform?'
A great short video series from the Mackinac Center in Michigan on Canadians' perspective of the their government run health care system.
A Washington Post online graphic showing what people of various incomes would pay under an insurance exchange. There would be no prices. Everyone would just pay a fee based on income ranging from 8%-18% for starters. So why not set the price of bread, milk, houses, and cars based on income, too? Here's another look from Heritage.
Here is a short National Taxpayers Union piece on how the Baucus bill is a tax hike on middle income earners.
CATO's Michael Cannon on the CBO's scoring of Sen. Baucus's bill or plan or whatever it is here. In a nutshell, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors trying to predict what will happen with a bill that doesn't yet exist.
A pretty funny video from www.CatholicVoteAction.org on big government and health care. Short and worth a look.
MPI joins 32 other state and national free market think tanks in recommending seven measures that would decrease costs and increase access without a government takeover.
From Heritage, a look at how the Baucus plan would increase state Medicaid expenditures (and taxes).
From Conservative Action Project: Ten reasons the Baucus plan falls short, with lots of good footnotes.
A study by Pacific Research Institute: The Facts about Medical Malpractice Liability Costs.
The Senate bill, or a draft of it. Over 1500 pages. The table of contents is over 12 pages by itself. Something for everyone, except the taxpayer.
A Fact Check by the Associated Press on insurance industry profits. Turns out they're well below most other industries at about 5% over time and 2% last year.
From Heritage: 20 Questions on the Opt Out Plan. I only wish we had the answers. Also, according to pollsters support for the public option collapses under the facts.
The House bill HR 3962 - all 1900 pages so it takes awhile to load - plus the companion HR 3961 that puts $200 billion in physician reimbursement fixes off the books and on the deficit. So much for a "comprehensive" solution.
Americans for Tax Reform lists all tax hikes in the House bill.
Canada's Fraser Institute has a study called "Waiting Your Turn" that documents hospital waiting times with free health care...it's free if you can get it.
The GOP replacement amendment for HR 3962, i.e. the Republican reform bill, and it's CBO report.
A Wall Street Journal look at why health care reform, why now from a progressive insider. It's about restructuring society, not health care.
A Gallup poll (11/10/09) clearly showing no clear mandate from Americans on health care reform. What support there was is in fact waning.
A Washington Post article (of all places) explaining why AARP is endorsing Obamacare. AARP is just following the money.
From the Wall Street Journal: Lords of Entitlement. Probably the best summary yet of what lies ahead if the House's version of 'reform' remains intact. It's political rationing of health care and dependency of the middle class on the political class.
From the Council for Affordable Health Insurance: A list of mandates by state along with cost estimates. Montana's insurance premiums may be as high as 25% higher than they would be without mandates.
Is there a Constitutional basis for mandatory health insurance? From Heritage.
The Pelosi Tort Bomb. How the House bill would gut state tort reform, from the Wall Street Journal.
CATO's Aaron Yelowitz: "Obamacare: A Bad Deal for Young Adults." Frankly I can't figure out why the youth aren't marching in the streets over the bill they're being handed.
A study by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - the governnment agency that runs those programs - showing that current 'reform' proposals would increase costs (by $289 over the baseline) and decrease access to private insurance for tens of millions of people. Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson discusses it here.
11/19/09: The Reid Bill - all 2074 pages.
11/19/09: CBO analysis of the Reid Bill.
11/19/09: ATR's analysis of the tax increases contained in the Reid Bill.
11/20/09: NFIB calls Senate health care bill "a disaster" for small businesses.
11/23/09: Rasmussen poll: 38% favor, 58% oppose Democrat plan. Of note, 21% strongly favor, 43% strongly oppose. Trends are solidly against so-called reform.
11/25/09: From The Christian Science Monitor: Five Paragraphs You Must Read from the Senate bill.
11/30/09: The Congressional Budget Office report on changes to private health insurance premiums if the Senate bill is passed. Individuals will see as much as a 13% increase in premiums, and group insurance will see between a 3% decrease and a 1% increase.
12/2/09: From the Heritage Foundation, a perfect example of the law of unintended consequences. The Senate bill will actually encourage states to drop their Medicaid partnership with the federal government and save money in the process, at least at the state level.
12/3/09: From The Hill: Groups representing 240,000 surgeons state opposition to Senate healthcare bill.
12/4/09: Again from The Hill: Dick Morris outlining increased Medicaid costs to states under the Senate bill. Montana's share of this unfunded mandate is about $29 million, just under our latest projected surplus. So much for that.
12/10/09: From Heritage: "Why the Personal Mandate to Buy Health Insurance is Unprecedented and Unconstitutional." A scholarly report that isn't short but lays it out.
12/10/09: Michael Tanner from CATO: "Why the FEHBP Plan is No 'Moderate Compromise.'" It's more expensive, and it props up a failing system, among other reasons.
12/15/09: CATO's Michael Cannon on why the remaining mandates are just as dangerous as the public option and Medicare buy-in that have apparently been dropped.
12/16/09: A view from the Left. Liberal blogs, including this one, and other progressive organizations are now confirming what we've been arguing all long - that current "reforms" don't increase access but do increase costs. One here calls for defeat of the Senate bill, arguing that it doesn't do enough.
12/16/09: Latest Gallup poll: Americans oppose or lean against passing health care reform legislation this year 48% to 46%. Of note, independents oppose or lean against it 49% to 44%.
12/16/09: Latest CNN poll: 61% of Americans oppose the current Senate health care legislation proposals.
12/17/09: From Politico.com: The Left is pulling away from Obamacare.
12/18/09: From Heritage: A detailed look at how the Senate bill will hurt low wage workers by making it more expensive to hire and keep them.
12/20/09: From Heritage: An overview of "The Reid Amendment: Sweetheart Deals and Interstate Warfare." Senators who held out got special favors at our expense.
12/21/09: From the Left: "Ten Reasons to Kill the Senate Bill." And from the Wall Street Journal: "Change Nobody Can Believe in." The only people who like this bill are in congress and the White House.
12/29/09: "Will Blue Dogs Risk Their Seats to Pass Health Care." A vote by vote breakdown from the Left perspective.
12/29/09: NFIB letter on Senate Bill HR 3590. Hint: They don't like it. 
1/12/09: From Heritage: "Pelosi Plan Punishes Small Business."
1/12/10: From the Wall Street Journal:The organization that runs Medicare reaffirms that current "reform" bills bend the cost curve up.
1/11/10: Ramussen poll: 17% of Americans expect health care costs to decline, 57% to increase, 52% believe quality will go down under current "reform" plan.
1/19/10: CATO's Michael Cannon shows how the Senate's legislation would impose marginal tax rates on low-wage earners of as much as 82%. Here's a shorter op-ed version in Kaiser Health News.
1/19/10: Michael Tanner in the New York Post: Some of the sweetheart deals in current legislation.
1/17/10: A four-minute video from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) looks "back" at health care legislation in 2010.
2/6/10: From the Wall Street Journal: How the Senate bill would inflict a 41% marginal tax rate on low and middle income families.
2/6/10: Kim Strassel of the Wall Street Journal: How the government/corporate marriage (gee, isn't there a word for that?) didn't work in "Pfizer's Bad Political Bet."
2/23/10: The president's new health care reform proposal.
2/23/10: A couple analyses of the president's new plan, which is just like the old plan. Investors' Business Daily outlines some major provisions. And the Wall Street Journal exposes the double-speak.
2/23/10: Heritage's Brian Darling discusses how Reconiliation might or might not work. And the Wall Street Journal's John Fund discusses the Democrats' internal divisions over the process and the product.
2/23/10: Americans for Tax Reform analysis of the president's plan's tax increases.
2/23/10: An interesting side by side comparison of the House and Senate bill provisions by American Homebuilders. (pdf)
2/23/10: "Ten GOP Ideas for Health Care Reform" from Newt Gingrich and John C. Goodman.
3/8/10: A good discussion of the "Two Bill" process and reconciliation.
3/8/10: "What the House Would have to Swallow in the Senate Bill" from Heritage.
3/8/10: The "Rahming" of Rep. Massa over his Health Care vote from the Left-of-Center www.Firedoglake.com.
3/8/10: A very comprehensive guide to health care reform booklet from CATO.
3/11/10: From RealClearPolitics.com, average and historical results from a variety of polls on approval/disapproval of the health care bill. The latest average is 41% approve, 49% disapprove.
3/11/10: From Reason.com: A great overview of why insurance companies welcome the president's plan to tame them.
3/15/10: A Washington Post column briefly outline how to pass a "reform" bill without voting on it.
3/15/10: A U.S. Chamber of Commerce poll showing their membership believes the current bill will increase costs, increase taxes, reduce care.
3/15/10: From American Spectator: "The House Shell Game Begins."
3/15/10: Rep. Paul Ryan on "What Health Reform Should Look Like." For those who say there are no ideas coming from the other side.
3/18/10: Text of the House reconciliation Bill.
3/18/10: Why is PhRMA spending millions to support "reform?" Follow the money.
3/18/10: According to an AP Fact Check: Premiums Would Rise Under Obama Plan.
3/18/10: Mark Levin and Landmark Legal Foundation will sue if the Slaughter Rule is employed.
3/18/10: Pelosi was against "Deem and Pass" before she was for it.
3/18/10: National specialty medical societies representing more than 85,000 physicians oppose the current House legislation in a letter to Speaker Pelosi.
3/22/10: A former CBO head in the New York Times: "The Real Arithmetic of Health Care Reform." Savings are smoke and mirrors, and revenues are robbing Peter to pay Paul.
3/22/10: VFW: "National Healthcare Bill Betrays Veterans."
3/22/10: On to the next stage of the fight. The liberal blog Firedoglake has a good summary of states with anti-mandate initiatives to disallow the individual mandate and argues that Democrats may be walking into an electoral buzzsaw.
3/23/10: CATO's Michael Tanner: "ObamaCare: The Battles Ahead" provides a nice outline of where things might go from here.
3/25/10: Several articles, columns, and editorials that lay out the costs of the comprehensive reform package:
- Sally Pipes: "ObamaCare Wins, Now the Pain Begins"
- Wall Street Journal: "ObamaCare Day One"
- Investor's Business Daily: "Twenty Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedom"
3/26/10: AT&T joins Verizon, Caterpiller, and other major companies: will take $1 billion charge, may drop some coverage because of health care bill.
3/30/10: Two pdf documents that contain implemenation timelines for major provisions of the health care bill. The first is from the Kaiser Family Foundation and is the most comprehensive. The second is from National Association of Health Underwriters and concentrates more on insurance provisions.
4/6/10: A solid refutation of the "Health insurance is like auto insurance" argument. (pdf)
4/6/10: Our friends at ALEC have produced a 2010 State Guide to Health Insurance Reform...that is if your goal isn't to raise taxes and remove choices.
4/6/10: Now from the IRS: Buy health insurance or lose your tax refund.
4/1/10: The Heritage Foundation's Ed Feulner responds to and refutes some of the president's claims about the reform bill.
4/14/10: An IBD editorial: Reform's Nasty Little Surprises.
4/14/10: From National Review: How the Poor Will Suffer Under Obamacare. A lesson in unintended consequences.
4/14/10: Latest Rasmussen poll: Support for health care bill repeal grows to 58%.
4/14/10: A nice NYT graphic on Obamacare's money flows.
4/16/10: A CATO video discussing the similarities between Romney's MA healthcare plan and Obamacare.
4/16/10: MA Tax Form HC2: Three pages to tell the state that you have "approved" health insurance and who pays for it.
4/20/10: IBD's Merrill Mathews on Gaming the Mandate. MA data shows that if it's cheaper to pay the fine, people won't buy insurance until they get sick.
4/24/10: No surprise here. Medicare's chief actuary confirms Obamacare will bend the cost curve up based on budget gimicks and unrealistic assumptions.5/9/10: From the Washington Examiner: Key Health "Reform" author cashes out to "K" Street.
5/9/10: From CNNMoney.com: A massive new requirement paperwork for small businesses to send 1099's to virtually every company they do business with.
5/9/10: From USA Today: IRS Lacks Clout to Enforce Insurance Mandates.
5/9/10: A Fortune Magazine report on top companies considering dumping health care coverage for their employees and paying the fine, as critics predicted.
5/10/10: Latest Rasmussen poll: 63% think legislation will increase the deficit, 12% think it will reduce it. 56% favor outright repeal, versus 37% who want to keep it. Full results here. We're not as dumb as they hoped we were.
5/17/10: According to the nominee to head Medicare/Medicaid: "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open." And much more.
5/20/10: A nifty calculator from the National Retail Federation to determine whether or not businesses will be hit by the employer mandate tax.
5/27/10: How health care law encourages small businesses to stay small.
5/27/10: FREE's Pete Geddes on why importing drugs from Canada is no free lunch.
5/27/10: CATO's Michael Tanner: "Death Panel Claims Were Overblown...Until Now."
6/2/10: Congressman Ron Paul introduces patient-centered health care legislation.
6/2/10: Soaring Costs Force Canada to Reassess Health Model.
6/21/10: Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) on the tax implications of ObamaCare.
6/21/10: PRI's Sally Pipes on how the Massachusetts health care mess is coming to the rest of the country.
6/21/10: Interesting survey by Deloitte on attitudes towards health care and reform. 82% still think they're adequately or well insured, despite what they've been told.
6/21/10: Congressional Budget Office presentation outlining costs, presenting caveats, admitting current legislation is unsustainable.
6/21/10: A Washington Post article on how one side of the propaganda wars is being funded at taxpayer expense.
6/21/10: For political wonks in the WSJ: Opposition remains stable, but Obamacare may have decisive effects with independent voters.
7/2/10: John Graham on NationalReview.com demonstrating that messing up the "Doc fix" is a bipartisan affair.
7/2/10: Unintended consequences start kicking in: "Health Overhaul May Mean Longer ER Waits, Crowding."
7/2/10: An AEI article on the recently enacted high risk pools, and how they exemplify the problems of Obamacare.
7/12/10: National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) joins lawsuit to overtern Obamacare.
7/12/10: From WellPoint, "reform" will result in insurance company oligopoly. For those who think we're sticking it to big insurance, they became part of the problem when they got mandates included.
7/12/10: Drug Lobby Showers Money on Harry Reid. For those who think we're sticking it to Pharma, they're part of the problem.
7/12/10: Everything you need to know about the recess appointment of Don Berwick to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). See also an interview here for his own words in full context.
7/12/10: A CNNMoney.com article on IRS efforts (and costs) to implement health care reporting requirements.
7/12/10: A new study by CATO's Michael Tanner that provides a definitive outline of the impacts of "reform."
- 21 million Americans remain uninsured
- Cost will be closer to $2.7 trillion than the $1 trillion advertised
- $352 billion will be added to the nation's debt
- Most will see no change to premium increases, others will see significantly higher increases
- Taxes will increase by more than $669 billion
- Millions will not be able to keep their current coverage
7/27/10: A great three-panel flyer highlighting "reform" impacts on individuals and businesses.
7/27/10: A nifty wall chart outlining implementation timelines (bring your reading glasses).
7/27/10: NFIB is creating a series of Fact Patterns to explain and support its lawsuit asserting Obamacare is unconstitutional.
7/27/10: Firms are already dropping health care coverage as costs increase and sending employees to new subsidized programs.
7/27/10: From NYT: Insurers limiting choices as costs and mandates increase.
7/27/10: Obesity rating required in new stimulus record requirements.
7/27/10: From the WSJ: Why the Obamacare Penalty is Unconstitutional.
7/27/10: From the Left blog FireDogLake: Of course the drug companies loved the health care bill.
7/27/10: From NYT: Administration now calls mandates a tax. So much for no tax increases for middle earners.
8/8/10: Progressives Shouldn't Support the Individual Mandate, from liberal blog FireDogLake.
8/8/10: Nifty wall chart wiring diagram of Obamacare.
8/8/10: Good info on Exchange characteristics.
6/21/10: Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) on the tax implications of ObamaCare.
6/21/10: PRI's Sally Pipes on how the Massachusetts health care mess is coming to the rest of the country.
6/21/10: Interesting survey by Deloitte on attitudes towards health care and reform. 82% still think they're adequately or well insured, despite what they've been told.
6/21/10: Congressional Budget Office presentation outlining costs, presenting caveats, admitting current legislation is unsustainable.
6/21/10: A Washington Post article on how one side of the propaganda wars is being funded at taxpayer expense.
6/21/10: For political wonks in the WSJ: Opposition remains stable, but Obamacare may have decisive effects with independent voters.
7/2/10: John Graham on NationalReview.com demonstrating that messing up the "Doc fix" is a bipartisan affair.
7/2/10: Unintended consequences start kicking in: "Health Overhaul May Mean Longer ER Waits, Crowding."
7/2/10: An AEI article on the recently enacted high risk pools, and how they exemplify the problems of Obamacare.
7/12/10: National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) joins lawsuit to overtern Obamacare.
7/12/10: From WellPoint, "reform" will result in insurance company oligopoly. For those who think we're sticking it to big insurance, they became part of the problem when they got mandates included.
7/12/10: Drug Lobby Showers Money on Harry Reid. For those who think we're sticking it to Pharma, they're part of the problem.
7/12/10: Everything you need to know about the recess appointment of Don Berwick to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). See also an interview here for his own words in full context.
7/12/10: A CNNMoney.com article on IRS efforts (and costs) to implement health care reporting requirements.
7/12/10: A new study by CATO's Michael Tanner that provides a definitive outline of the impacts of "reform."
- 21 million Americans remain uninsured
- Cost will be closer to $2.7 trillion than the $1 trillion advertised
- $352 billion will be added to the nation's debt
- Most will see no change to premium increases, others will see significantly higher increases
- Taxes will increase by more than $669 billion
- Millions will not be able to keep their current coverage
7/27/10: A great three-panel flyer highlighting "reform" impacts on individuals and businesses.
7/27/10: A nifty wall chart outlining implementation timelines (bring your reading glasses).
7/27/10: NFIB is creating a series of Fact Patterns to explain and support its lawsuit asserting Obamacare is unconstitutional.
7/27/10: Firms are already dropping health care coverage as costs increase and sending employees to new subsidized programs.
7/27/10: From NYT: Insurers limiting choices as costs and mandates increase.
7/27/10: Obesity rating required in new stimulus record requirements.
7/27/10: From the WSJ: Why the Obamacare Penalty is Unconstitutional.
7/27/10: From the Left blog FireDogLake: Of course the drug companies loved the health care bill.
7/27/10: From NYT: Administration now calls mandates a tax. So much for no tax increases for middle earners.
8/8/10: Progressives Shouldn't Support the Individual Mandate, from liberal blog FireDogLake.
8/8/10: Nifty wall chart wiring diagram of Obamacare.
8/8/10: Good info on Exchange characteristics.
7/2/10: John Graham on NationalReview.com demonstrating that messing up the "Doc fix" is a bipartisan affair.
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