So, how many of ya’ll thought that Obama’s health care bill was gonna reduce costs? Reduce prices [you DO know the difference, right?] or even reduce the budget/deficit/debt?
Anyone?
Well, the truth shall set you free:
A new government report from Rick Foster, the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), finds that President Barack Obama’s new healthcare reform law would cost $828 billion over the next decade while saving $577 billion.
Didja get that? We will pay MORE for services, not less. Now, to be fair to the bill, the report does not take into account everything:
Foster notes that CMS’s projections do not take into account changes to the tax code that have been enacted.
Lovely. So, not only will the bill law cost more than we thought, but we’ll have to raise taxes to meet the deficit.
Last, and this really only makes sense, are the unintended consequences of the new law. Namely that people have a natural tendency to look after their own selfish self interests. And this will play out how?
The report also suggests that some employers will stop offering their employees healthcare coverage benefits: “A number of workers who currently have employer coverage would likely become enrolled in the expanded Medicaid program or receive subsidized coverage through the [Health] Exchanges. For example, some smaller employers would be inclined to terminate their existing coverage, and companies with low average salaries might find it to their — and their employees’ — advantage to end their plans…”
And further, just plain ol’ economic “physics” would dictate:
“The additional demand for health services could be difficult to meet initially with existing health resources and could lead to price increases, cost shifting, and/or changes in providers’ willingness to treat patients with low-reimbursement health coverage.”
Listen, this was never about what they said it was about; bringing down costs in an attempt to rein in prices. Rather, this bill now law was a power grab by the Democrats in an attempt to move the country to the Left ala Western Europe.
Time will tell if it is ultimately successful.