A military built for fighting wars is looking more and more like a health care entitlement program.
Costs of the program that provides health coverage to some 10 million active duty personnel, retirees, reservists and their families have jumped from $19 billion in 2001 to $53 billion in the Pentagon's latest budget request.
Desperate to cut spending in Washington's time of fiscal austerity, President Barack Obama has proposed increasing the fees for working-age retirees in the decades-old health program, known as TRICARE. After years of resisting proposed increases for the military men and women who sacrificed for a nation, budget-conscious lawmakers suddenly are poised to make them pay a bit more for their health care, though not on the president's terms.
Tags: Health care, Healthcare,
The Virginia and Liberty University cases bear some differences. But both challenge the insurance requirement on the ground that it cannot be supported by the commerce clause of the Constitution, which gives Congress broad but not unlimited authority to regulate interstate commerce. Starting in 2014, the health-care law would require most Americans to obtain policies or pay an income-tax penalty.
The plaintiffs complain the government never has forced citizens to buy a commercial product. Arguments in lower courts have centered on whether a choice to not buy insurance constitutes the kind of economic "activity" that the Supreme Court has, in the past, found subject to federal regulation.
RE(3):Health care #Healthcare
09/05/2011 10:56
The Business Times has launched its first Health care Heroes Awards and it needs you — Business Times readers — to nominate the Health care Heroes in your community.
RE(2):Health care #Healthcare
09/05/2011 10:56
Obama is seeking a fee increase of $2.50 per month for an individual and $5 per month for families, which approaches the current price of a gallon of gasoline. Future increases starting in 2013 would be pegged to rising costs as measured by the national health care expenditure index produced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which projects 6.2 percent growth.
RE(1):Health care #Healthcare
09/05/2011 10:55
Just as Florence Nightingale, the first nursing leader, transformed nursing practice more than 150 years ago, nurses, doctors and other medical professionals of our generation are leading the way in health care transformation. This is evident in Florida, as two major nurse-led initiatives are under way that will change health care delivery for the better.
