Posted on 04/26/2010 6:36:34 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Not one of its major programs has gotten started, and already the wheels are starting to come off of Obamacare. The administration’s own actuary reported on Thursday that millions of people could lose their health insurance, that health-care costs will rise faster than they would have if the law hadn’t passed, and that the overhaul will mean that people will have a harder and harder time finding physicians to see them.
The White House is trying to spin the new report from Medicare’s chief actuary Richard Foster as only half bad because it concludes that, while costs will increase, only 23 million people will remain uninsured (instead of 24 million previously estimated).
But looking at the details of Foster’s report shows the many, many danger signs for Obamacare and how many of its promises will be broken:
1. People losing coverage: About 14 million people will lose their employer coverage by 2019, as smaller employers terminate their plans and workers who currently have employer coverage enroll in Medicaid. Half of all seniors on Medicare Advantage could lose their coverage and the extra benefits the plans offer.
2. Huge fines for companies: Businesses will pay $87 billion in penalties in the first five years after the fines trigger in 2014, partly because they can’t afford to offer expensive, government-mandated coverage and partly because some of their employees will apply for taxpayer-subsidized insurance.
3. Higher costs for consumers: Tens of billions of dollars in new fees and excise taxes will be “passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and devices prices and higher premiums,” according to Foster. A separate report shows small businesses will be hit hardest.
4. A program created to fail: The new “CLASS Act” long-term-care insurance program will face “a significant risk of failure,” according to Foster. Indeed, he finds, “there is a very serious risk that the problem of adverse selection will make the CLASS program unsustainable.”
5. Spending increases: Under the new law, national health spending will increase by $311 billion over the coming decade. And instead of bending the federal spending curve down, it will move it upward “by a net total of $251 billion” over the next decade.
6. “Free-riders”: An estimated 23 million people will remain uninsured in 2019, roughly 5 million of whom would be undocumented aliens; the remainder would be the 18 million who decline to get coverage and who will pay the penalty.
7. Spending reductions are fiction: Estimated reductions in the growth rate of health spending “may not be fully achievable” because “Medicare productivity adjustments could become unsustainable even within the next ten years, and over time the reductions in the scope of employer-sponsored health insurance could also become an issue.”
8. You can’t keep your doctor: Fifteen percent of all hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers treating Medicare patients could be operating at a loss by 2019, which will “possibly jeopardize access to care for beneficiaries.” Doctors are threatening to drop out of Medicare because cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates mean they can’t even cover their costs.
9. Coverage but no care: A significant portion of those newly eligible for Medicaid will have trouble finding physicians who will see them, and the increased demand for Medicaid services could be difficult to meet.
This is an objective report by administration actuaries that shows this sweeping legislation has serious, serious problems.
And there’s more: Joint Economic Committee Republicans explain in a new report the impact of a rarely mentioned $14.3 billion per year tax on health insurance, effective in 2014. They find this tax will be mostly passed through to consumers in the form of higher premiums for private coverage. It will cost the typical family of four with job-based coverage an additional $1,000 a year in higher premiums and will fall largely, and inequitably, on small businesses and their employees.
States are fighting back. The Florida legislature voted Thursday to place a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that would ban any laws that compel someone to “participate in any health care system.” It requires a 60 percent vote to succeed. The legislation is modeled after the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, which has been introduced or announced in 42 states.
Obamacare is far from settled policy. There are two more federal elections before the major provisions of the law take effect in 2014. Doctors are fighting mad, patients are scared, and companies are starting to realize that the promises of health-care-reform legislation could turn into a huge and costly burden.
The studies released today only fuel the fires to repeal and replace the health-overhaul law.
And as Obama himself has stated, "We have NO more money." Where will the money to finance ObamaCare come from? Can Timothy Geithner go hat in hand to the Chinese again to beg for more money? I doubt the Chinese will shell out this time.
Let us reflect in November on Nancy Pelosi’s statements and her big ole smiley faced walk through the protesers with her huge gavel.
Had this been GOP spending, had this been a GOP deficit, had this been a GOP defending this insanity, the lame stream media would have already had impeachment on the table. But as it is,..............................................
"Be careful what you wish for...it may come true!"
Et tu, Barky?
sfl
The government needs to scrap ObieCare and slash entitlements.
Like the sun coming up in the East, the razing of civilization by progressive policies never fails.
Those who expect "free care" will look at this and shrug. Whatever happens, they believe they'll be getting care and it won't cost them money.
This program was designed to fail. They need another real health care crisis to implemented the Commie-RAT aggenda—single payer.
Ye shall seek the truth—and it will make you free. Tyrants know this better than most persons.
if GM built cars the way the Democrats built Obamacare...ooooh, wait...bad example....
This bill has never been about health care....it’s about political power!
You are right on!!!!
Had this been GOP spending, had this been a GOP deficit, had this been a GOP defending this insanity, the lame stream media would have already had impeachment on the table. But as it is,..............................................
Such a pity because of all the Deatwatch MSM chatter at FR
My 8th grade nephew called me this morning to ask for info on the fraudulent PR that GM has paid back their loan. His history teacher is an obama supporter and he is ready to refute her arguments. Sure, his grade will probably suffer but sometimes there are worthy sacrifices to be made.
Well, they passed it.
Guess what's in it?
Among other reasons, this pile of democrat dung has problems because it was written by the proverbial roomful of monkeys on typewriters, or keyboards in this case. Incompetent to begin with, the various monkeys and groups of monkeys did not know what the others were doing. Then it was all jammed together between the front and back covers and “deemed” into place.
And the democrat filth celebrated their victory!
They left out those of us on Medicare/Tricare For Life..retired over 65 Military’s health ins. Both are admined out of the same agency, both had their reimbursement to the doctor cut by 21%..where will we be finding a doctor to take us. Ours is quitting because of obamanationcare.
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