Today's Op-Eds: Medicare rip-offs; Courts and the individual mandate; Accountable care

The Courts And The Mandate The New York Times
Instead of getting hung up on labels adopted in the heat of political battle, they should focus instead on Supreme Court precedents that found that taxes designed to influence behavior, like taxes to deter the sale of particularly dangerous firearms, were constitutional, provided they raised revenue in the process. A penalty to prod people into taking out health insurance seems little different, whatever label it is called (10/27).

'Obamacare' Tackles Health Care Costs. Will Congress? The Christian Science Monitor
There are more tools in Obamacare aimed at restraining rising health-care costs. But [Uwe Reinhardt, an expert on health-care economics at Princeton University ] suspects Washington will "not have the guts to use them," considering the "incredible resistance" from the health-care industry and the politics of such action (David Francis, 10/27).

Good Start On Health Reform Denver Post
We need an American health care system that provides high quality, cost-efficient care for everyone. The enacted health reform legislation starts us on this journey. Therefore, all of us who are part of the delivery system — doctors, hospitals, clinics, insurers, drug and device manufactures, professional societies and others — need to do a better job of explaining this reform and work to make it a success (Patricia A. Gabow, 10/28).

What If The President Had Changed His Priorities? A Pre-Election Analysis From An Alternate Universe Kaiser Health News
Many politicos say the current political landscape would be very different if President Obama would have shifted his legislative priorities to put the economy in front of health reform. But would it really? (Jonathan Cohn, 10/28).

End Medicare Rip-Offs The Miami Herald
Hurrah! We're all in favor of shutting down criminal enterprises, but it's nothing short of outrageous that a crime of such mind-boggling scope could be allowed to go undetected for so long. Taxpayers should be alarmed about what this story reveals regarding the government's poor record of dealing with Medicare fraud (10/28).

Patient Beware Of Accountable Care The Washington Times
Instead of limiting beneficiaries' choice to a mechanism that will insulate them from actual costs and permit paternalistic central control over every decision made by physicians in the care of their patients, we should be advocating expanding choice (Dr. Daniel H. Johnson Jr., 10/27).

Got A Doctor's Prescription For That Advil? The Washington Examiner
By eliminating a broad range of legitimate uses, Obamacare dramatically increases the risks of losing the pre-tax money the account holder contributes to an FSA. Under Obamacare, unless you make additional doctor's appointments, you are effectively barred from using your pre-tax funds to purchase legitimate and necessary medical items like Tylenol for your baby or Advil for your arthritis (10/27).

ObamaCare Harms Our Troops The Daily Caller
In a time of war, when medical devices like prosthetic legs are critical to the care of injured service members, ObamaCare slaps a destructive 2.3% tax on medical devices. The majority of companies who make these devices are small businesses for whom this tax will consume a significant portion or all of their their profit margins, leaving them with two options — both harmful for our troops (Alex Cortes and Michael Grimm, 10/27).