November 30th, 2009 • 2:26 pmReform Or Making Things Worse?
The minute people start reading the CBO’s report on what the Senate’s health care bill does to their insurance premium is the minute the people will revolt. Here’s what the Hill Magazine is reporting:
Individual insurance premiums would increase by an average of 10 percent or more, according to an analysis of the Senate healthcare bill.
The long-awaited report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) also concluded that subsidies provided by the legislation would make coverage cheaper for those who qualify.
The report, issued in the form of a letter to Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), will provide both Democrats and Republicans with ammunition as the Senate begins amending the healthcare bill on Monday.
“CBO and JCT estimate that the average premium per person covered (including dependents) for new nongroup policies would be about 10 percent to 13 percent higher in 2016 than the average premium for nongroup coverage in that same year under current law. About half of those enrollees would receive government subsidies that would reduce their costs well below the premiums that would be charged for such policies under current law,” the report says.
Those enrollees that get subsidized insurance premiums would either effect a tax hike to taxpayers of all stripes or the subsidies would just bet added to the annual deficits. As I’ve said before, they wouldn’t be self-sustaining. The subsidies would just hide a major deficiency in the Democrats’ legislation.
It’s time that the Democrats stopped this insanity and got to work on fixing health care.
I’ll ask a few simple questions and see if you think this constitutes reform:
- Is it reform when health insurance premiums continue increasing?
- Is it reform when taxes are raised by hundreds of billions of dollars?
- Is it reform when the deficit will increase by half a trillion dollars? (That’s what will happen when you add in the doctor fix of $210,000,000,000 and you don’t cut Medicare by $470,000,000,000.)
- Is it reform when many costs are shifted from the federal government onto states in the form of an underfunded mandate for Medicaid expansion?
This is what Washington thinks constitutes reform. Here in the real world, though, it’s what’s called making the situation worse.
Technorati: Reforms, Tax Increases, Insurance Premium Increases, JCT, CBO, Subsidies, Deficits, Medicare Cuts, Harry Reid, President Obama, Democrats
Cross-posted at California Conservative
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Pingback by California Conservative » Blog Archive » This Is Health Care Reform? • 30Nov2009 @ 2:33 pm
I understand your math and concern for the deficit, but I find it even more appalling that Congress may NOT do the “doctor fix” and MAY actually cut $500 billion out of Medicare. Both are exactly symptomatic of the Big Lie that is this “reform” bill. That is, Congress believes they can give more people better care for less money. It is not possible.
Comment by J. Ewing • 30Nov2009 @ 6:12 pm
Jerry, there isn’t a snowball’s prayer in H-E-doubletoothpicks that Congress will vote to cut half a trillion from Medicare. If it gets to conference, the Doctor Fix will be in the bill because it’ll only take 51 votes to pass it.
Comment by Gary Gross • 30Nov2009 @ 6:32 pm
It is only reform if it is single payer, which it is not, so it is merely forcing more people to give the health insurance industry more money under threat of a thousand dollar penalty for not doing so.
There’s a reason Ford is expanding its Ontario operations. NAFTA allows it and the coverage costs are not as severe because Canada has single payer.
Runaway industry.
That’s what you get when you let Blue Dogs and others aligned in that direction monkey with things.
Without looking at what will be funded, at what levels, at what is too costly such as some end of life procedures for the terminally ill, and without getting the profiteering and middle man costs out, it’s just throwing money at the private insurance people. More cash, down the same rathole.
It is bad so far, and progressives should demand more or vote against it.
Comment by eric z. • 01Dec2009 @ 11:05 am