Michael F. Cannon

Michael F. Cannon

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Will Christie Volunteer You for Obamacare's Tax Hikes

By Michael F. Cannon (May 21, 2012)

New Jersey’s legislature has approved a bill to create a new government bureaucracy — a health insurance “exchange” — that would help implement Obamacare’s individual and... more

Will Smith: Socialists Just Don’t Understand

By Michael F. Cannon (May 15, 2012)

J.P. Morgan and Yahoo: Market Successes Investment giant J.P. Morgan made a bad trade that cost its owners $2 billion. The responsible parties are losing their jobs.... more

Alabama, Illinois to Scrap Obamacare Exchange?

By Michael F. Cannon (May 07, 2012)

According to WSFA-12 News, Alabama legislators are working on legislation to create an ObamaCare Exchange. But: Governor Robert Bentley [R] will likely veto the bill. “This... more

Medicare Fraud Posse Cackles as If They Laid an Asteroid

By Michael F. Cannon (May 06, 2012)

What the media blare: Levinson Snags $515 Million in Health Care Fraud More than 100 Charged in Massive Medicare Fraud Busts in 7 Cities in Scams Totaling $452 Mil What... more

No Obamacare Exchanges

By Michael F. Cannon (Apr 29, 2012)

Obamacare had a bad couple of days before the Supreme Court — so bad that President Obama made some ill-considered comments about the Court from which he still hasn't totally... more

Sometimes, Governments Lie (6th Anniversary Ed.)

By Michael F. Cannon (Apr 28, 2012)

This blog post first appeared at Cato@Liberty following the release of the 2006 Medicare and Social Security trustees’ reports. I repost it, with updated links and... more

Politico: Opponents Are Winning the Debate over ObamaCare ‘Exchanges’

By Michael F. Cannon (Apr 23, 2012)

Politico has a great story about how free-market groups are defeating ObamaCare Exchanges at the state level: Conservatives like John Graham of the Pacific Research... more

That’s Not a Limiting Principle, Noah Feldman Edition

By Michael F. Cannon (Apr 06, 2012)

Harvard law professor Noah Feldman opines that U.S. Solicitor General Don Verrilli ”faltered” yesterday when Supreme Court justices asked whether the Obama... more

Obamacare in the Supreme Court

By Michael F. Cannon (Apr 05, 2012)

On Monday, March 26, the Supreme Court began hearing oral argument on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, "ObamaCare," which ran for six hours over three... more

Obamacare Supporters, Be Warned: This May Sting a Little

By Michael F. Cannon (Apr 02, 2012)

Michael F. Cannon is the Cato Institute's director of health policy studies. Previously, he served as a domestic policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy... more

What Is Causing Drug Shortages?

By Michael F. Cannon (Mar 19, 2012)

A number of people have asked me what is causing the current shortages in certain types of drugs. Here’s what I’ve been able to discern so far: In general, there are two... more

Gingrich Adviser Urges States to Implement ObamaCare

By Michael F. Cannon (Mar 17, 2012)

State after state is refusing to implement ObamaCare’s health insurance Exchanges. Republican David Merritt hopes they will “grudgingly decide” to change their... more

There Is No Objective Definition of ‘Medical Necessity’

By Michael F. Cannon (Mar 05, 2012)

California regulators are coming down on Kaiser Permanente. According to HealthLeaders Media, the regulators reviewed a batch of coverage denials and “found that in excess of... more

Does Mitt Romney Have Health Insurance?

By Michael F. Cannon (Feb 26, 2012)

It’s an interesting question. Romney is under age 65, which means that he would have to obtain private health insurance. He jokes that he is unemployed, which means he may... more

The Illiberality of ObamaCare

By Michael F. Cannon (Feb 19, 2012)

On Friday, President Obama tried to quell the uproar over his ongoing effort to force Catholics (and everyone else) to pay for contraceptives, sterilization, and... more

Sebelius Admits ObamaCare Exchanges Aren’t Happening, Then Disqualifies Herself from Office

By Michael F. Cannon (Feb 18, 2012)

Politico Pro has published a short but remarkable article [$] stemming from an interview with HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius. It offers a couple of... more

But, But…Price Controls Poll Well!

By Michael F. Cannon (Feb 13, 2012)

Politico‘s Jason Millman writes: How much does Rick Santorum hate President Barack Obama’s health care law? So much that he even opposes the parts a lot of Republicans... more

The Church of Universal Coverage

By Michael F. Cannon (Feb 12, 2012)

Associated Press photojournalist Noah Berger captured this thousand-word image near the Occupy Oakland demonstrations last month. Many Cato@Liberty readers will get it... more

ObamaCare’s Contraceptive-Coverage Mandate

By Michael F. Cannon (Feb 11, 2012)

My Cato colleague John Cochrane – who is way smarter than I am — has a generally excellent op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal on ObamaCare’s contraception... more

Contraceptives Mandate Brings ObamaCare's Coercive Power into Sharper Focus

By Michael F. Cannon (Feb 02, 2012)

President Obama is catching some well-earned blowback for his decision to force religious institutions “to pay for health insurance that covers sterilization, contraceptives... more

Should Everyone Be Required to Have Health Insurance?

By Michael F. Cannon (Jan 31, 2012)

When Washington begins penalizing people for not purchasing health insurance in 2014, it will mark the first time in history the federal government has required nearly all... more

Romneycare & Free Riders

By Michael F. Cannon (Jan 30, 2012)

During last night’s GOP presidential debate, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney had a polite disagreement over Romneycare’s impact on free-ridership in Massachusetts. The short... more

‘The White House Is Resorting to Unsubstantiated Happy Talk’ on ObamaCare

By Michael F. Cannon (Jan 29, 2012)

Last week, the White House claimed 28 states are “on their way” toward creating ObamaCare’s health insurance Exchanges. Here’s what Jim Capretta of the Ethics and... more

Romneycare's, er, Obamacare’s Sweetheart Deal for Massachusetts

By Michael F. Cannon (Jan 22, 2012)

A bunch of rural hospitals are upset about a provision of Obamacare that benefits Massachusetts above all other states. Forgive the bureaucratese, but you really have to read... more

RomneyCare Just Got $150 Million More Expensive

By Michael F. Cannon (Jan 21, 2012)

One of the ways Massachusetts officials have tried to temper RomneyCare’s cost overruns was by denying participation to legal immigrants. Last week, the Commonwealth’s... more

Oops, Maybe ObamaCare’s Cost Controls Won’t Work after All

By Michael F. Cannon (Jan 20, 2012)

One of ObamaCare’s big selling points was that it would launch lots of pilot programs so that Medicare bureaucrats could learn how to reduce health care costs and improve the... more

As Predicted, Obama Administration Backs Off Medicare Anti-Fraud Efforts

By Michael F. Cannon (Jan 09, 2012)

Medicare and Medicaid are rife with fraud. We’re talking 10 percent or more of total spending, which is two orders of magnitude more than what credit card companies... more