February 5, 2013 by The Ruoff Group The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides health policymakers with a robust set of tools to accomplish important changes to both bring costs under control and improve our health and health care. The coverage expansion which ensures affordable access to this new, high performance…
The Medicaid expansion debate heats up
The advocates of expanding Medicaid in South Carolina were out in force last night at the USC School of Law auditorium. Hundreds of people turned out to hear presentations by three supporters of the expansion and one opponent, Tony Keck the Director of the SC Department of Health and Human…
The sad case of Medicaid expansion
At the recent Republican National Convention South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley took the stage. “Sadly, the hardest part of my job continues to be this federal government, this administration and this president,” she said. But a story in today’s Charleston Post & Courier clearly shows that the hardest part of…
Catholic’s going after Medicaid expansion
First, I’m not a Catholic. Second, let’s hear it for the Catholic Church! Back in April the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to Congress opposing cuts in program funding for the poor such as Medicaid. In August, Father Stephen Umhoefer, Paul Ryan’s family pastor for a number…
Obesity, regulations and donuts
Last month the new director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) stirred up the debate on healthcare in the Palmetto State. Catherine Templeton said that she had a “hallelujah moment” in talking with health experts when she realized that obesity was an important contributor to…
Expanding healthcare to more childen….finally!
Congratulation to South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and state Health and Human Services Director Tony Keck. Their proposal to add an additional $29 million in the Medicaid budget for children’s healthcare appears to be a done deal both in the House and Senate. This is a dramatic turnaround from the…
Black will not be fall guy
These must have been the worst two weeks in David Black’s life. What started in February as a new career adventure for the former president and CEO of the Liberty Life Insurance Company in Greenville, dissolved into a nightmare for the Director of the S.C. Department of Insurance who resigned…