Topic: Medicaid

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If not 'sequester,' then what? Five ideas from left and right.

Few in Washington believe that "the sequester,” $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to hit the federal budget as of March 1, is a good idea. But what's the alternative? Here are five proposals, from the right, the center, and the left, to replace the sequester. Which do you like?

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Tax VOX Obamacare delay: Will it encourage cheating?

Critics of Obamacare say the IRS will not be able to stop people from being dishonest when they file their income tax returns. Gleckman argues otherwise.
Minority children will be core of nation's workforce, tax base

Children of minorities will soon make up the core of the nation's workforce and tax base, but they're still disproportionately represented among the poor.
Aging seniors will receive home fix-ups, nurse visits as part of new project

Aging seniors struggle to live independently — home repairs and medicine rituals are sometimes ignored or forgotten, and never on purpose. A new research project looks to help.
Obamacare 101: Why major part of health law is delayed, and who's affected (+video)

A key provision of Obama's health law, aka Obamacare, will be pushed back a year, the administration said Wednesday. The delay buys more time for businesses with at least 51 workers to show they are providing health insurance. What happens in the meantime?
Obamacare delay? Large businesses get a one-year reprieve

Companies with 50 or more workers were given a one-year delay in providing coverage for their workers or face fines. 'We have heard that [businesses] need the time to get this right,' wrote a senior White House aide in a blog post. 'We are listening.'
Decoder Wire Chris Christie bromance with Barack Obama: Is it breaking up?

Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, no longer urgently needs federal superstorm Sandy dollars. So, with GOP presidential primaries ahead, he's buffing up his bona fides as a Republican, including attacks on ex-buddy Obama.
Robert Reich The quiet shutting down of Washington

Conservative Republicans have basically shut Congress down — preventing Obama from implementing tax reform, minimum wage hikes, and background checks on guns, Reich argues.
NAACP protest against NC GOP draws 1,000, over 100 arrested

NAACP protest: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been holding weekly protests in Raleigh since mid-April, and what started with 17 arrests and tens of supporters back then has grown every week, bringing the total number of arrests to nearly 300 after five weeks of protests.
IRS scandal becomes Republican battering ram against Obamacare (+video)

Republican lawmakers say the scandal over Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative groups raises new doubts about President Obama’s health-insurance reform law.
Why federal budget deficit is falling faster than CBO expected

The federal budget deficit will shrink this year to $642 billion, the nonpartisan CBO said in a new estimate Tuesday. Just three months ago, it was forecasting a deficit of $845 billion.
Tax VOX Health cost growth slows. Time to rethink budget debate?

If future medical costs continue to grow at their current low rate the federal budget will be in much better shape than most analysts thought, Gleckman writes. The slowdown in health spending growth is sure to drive the fiscal debate in some important and perhaps unexpected ways.
Tax VOX How immigration policy impacts budget projections

If Congress allows more people into the United States, our population, labor force, and economy will all get bigger. With immigration policy up in the air, the economy's trajectory will be difficult to predict.
Opinion Obamacare faces new legal challenge: Its 'tax' still violates the Constitution

The Supreme Court saved Obamacare by deeming the law's individual mandate a 'tax.' But in that case, the law violates the Constitution's Origination Clause, which says all tax bills must originate in the House, not the Senate. Letting the law stand sets a dangerous precedent.
Immigration reform bill may hang on economic effect of legalizing millions

Friday's testimony at first Senate hearing on the bipartisan immigration reform bill presented economic pros and cons of legalizing some 11 million people. A chief concern is wage suppression for low-skill Americans.
Opinion Opponents of Medicaid expansion put politics over people

The rejection by several Republican-led states of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion to provide health care access to millions of America’s poor isn’t just partisan politics; it’s immoral. It’s not too late to press state leaders to put people ahead of partisanship.
Entitlement reform takes step toward reality in new Obama budget

President Obama will unveil a budget Wednesday that includes reforms to entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare. The budget probably won't pass, but it points to a shift in the debate.
Obama budget takes heat from all quarters (+video)

Republicans reject any new taxes. Liberals say they'll fight any changes to Social Security and other entitlement programs. Does the Obama administration have any room to maneuver?
Cover Story Immigration reform: What the last 'path to citizenship' did for immigrants

Congress is considering comprehensive immigration reform, including amnesty, work visas, and guest worker programs. What this path to citizenship could mean for 11 million illegal immigrants can be seen in the 1986 amnesty of 3 million legalized in the last major immigration overhaul.
Obama's budget offends just about everybody. Is that compromise?

President Obama will unveil his federal budget proposal this coming week. Based on leaked details, the plan already is getting hammered by his own liberal base as well as by Republicans.
Focus Medicare: Could Rep. Paul Ryan's reform plan work?

The only big Medicare reform idea that's been pitched in public is called 'premium support,' championed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R). Here's how it would work, and here's why Democrats deride it as a 'voucher.'
Focus Taming Medicare costs: What are the options?

The US spends twice as much per person on health care as other advanced economies, and Medicare is one of the biggest culprits. But here's why cutting its costs won't be easy.
Robert Reich Why don't politicians listen to public opinion on the economy?

Why are politicians so sensitive to public opinion on equal marriage rights, immigration, and guns – Reich asks – and so tone deaf to what most Americans want on the economy?
The Vote Donald Trump CPAC speech: Is he a Democratic secret agent? (+video)

Donald Trump, speaking at CPAC Friday, envisioned a GOP turnaround that involves either repudiating basic Republican beliefs or doubling down on stuff that’s getting the party in trouble.
Democrats' new budget proposal: why it's balanced ... but not balanced (+video)

Senate Democrats have put forward a new budget proposal that offers balanced deficit reduction (between cuts and new tax revenue), but doesn't balance the budget.
Decoder Wire Obama argues a balanced budget isn't necessary. Can he convince the public?

Republicans propose to balance the budget within 10 years, while Democrats argue that such a move could actually hurt the economy. History suggests the politics may be on Republicans' side.