Re: Obamacare !
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Message: Re: Obamacare !
Even though i agree the projection of increase in medicare primiums in this popular circulating email has been overblown , however we can not ignore profound accelerating impact of OBAMACARE on entire insurance market. In fact OBAMACARE will triple the growth rate of net insurance cost. the Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently put out its annual projections of national health care spending. And, contrary to the President, the actuaries find that Obamacare will dramatically increase the near-term growth rate of health care costs. In 2014, the actuaries find that growth in the net cost of health insurance will increase by nearly 14 percent, compared to 3.5% if PPACA had never passed. The growth rate of private insurance costs will rise to 9.4 percent, from 5.0 percent under prior law: an 88% increase.ObamaCare And Its Unconstitutional Mandate Drives Up Health Care Costs, Increases Insurance Premiums, Hurts The Quality Of Health Care, Raises Taxes, And Blows Up The Deficit.
Followings quotes by Medicare chief Actuary are very alarming :
Medicare’s Chief Actuary Richard Foster Said ObamaCare Won’t Keep Costs Down. “The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Medicare Offical Doubts Health Care Law Savings,” The Associated Press, 1/26/11)
Foster Was Asked To Respond True Or False In Regards To The Claim That ObamaCare Will Bring Down Health Care Costs. “Foster was asked by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., for a simple true or false response on two of the main assertions made by supporters of the law: that it will bring down unsustainable medical costs and will let people keep their current health insurance if they like it.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Medicare Offical Doubts Health Care Law Savings,” The Associated Press, 1/26/11)
- “On The Costs Issue, ‘I Would Say False, More So Than True,’ Foster Responded.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Medicare Offical Doubts Health Care Law Savings,” The Associated Press, 1/26/11)
CMS Says Health Care Spending Will Increase More Than Before ObamaCare Was Passed. “In February, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected that overall national health spending would increase an average of 6.1% a year over the next decade. The center's economists recalculated the numbers in light of the health bill and now project that the increase will average 6.3% a year, according to a report in the journal Health Affairs. Total U.S. health spending will reach $4.6 trillion by 2019, accounting for nearly one of every five U.S. dollars spent, the report says.” (Janet Adamy, “Health Outlays Still Seen Rising,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/9/10)
- “U.S. Health Spending Is Projected To Rise 9.2% In 2014, Up From The 6.6% Projected Before The Law Took Effect.” (Janet Adamy, “Health Outlays Still Seen Rising,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/9/10)
And following quotes by two well known researcher NIX & SENGER on impact of OBAMACARE on medicare beneficiaries;
"Make no mistake about it: These claims from the White House are little more than a cheap political ruse. First of all, as href="http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/25/medicare-advantage-is-living-up-to-its-name/">Heritage blog explains, “The advantages of (MA) stem from the competition it allows among private health plans. Private plans are able to produce more efficient, better quality health care for beneficiaries.”
Second, those in the White House use this year’s lower premiums to discount conservatives’ warnings that Obamacare’s cuts to Medicare Advantage would threaten the program by increasing premiums, reducing benefits, and lowering enrollment. The catch is, these cuts haven’t kicked in yet. Obviously, you cannot cut a program by $145 billion and expect there to be no consequences. Medicare’s own chief actuary estimated that by 2017, MA enrollment will decline by 50 percent as a result. Writing for Heritage, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/09/reductions-in-medicare-advantage-payments-the-impact-on-seniors-by-region" href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/09/reductions-in-medicare-advantage-payments-the-impact-on-seniors-by-region">Jim Capretta and Robert Book show the impact to seniors by region, which shows:
Phased in between 2012 and 2017, the MA cuts will substantially restrict the ability of Medicare beneficiaries to choose the health plans that best meet their needs and will result in substantial reductions in coverage for many millions of seniors and disabled Americans.
The fact that premiums fell this year in no way disputes that this will be the future of Medicare Advantage under Obamacare, since the health law’s payment reductions won’t even be fully enacted until years down the road. Indeed, cuts were scheduled to begin this year, but the White House eased their blow in an election year. As part of a temporary demonstration program, Obamacare had allocated approximately $7 billion in funding for bonuses for the highest-performing MA plans. HHS used the funds to award bonuses to hundreds of plans, which, as health policy expert Robert Laszewski describes, led to “a ‘Lake Wobegon’ moment,” effectively cancelling out the impact of lower payments:
They took $6.7 billion intended to be paid as bonuses to the highest quality plans under the new health law and instead declared just about all of them “above average” or better and infused those billions among almost all Medicare Advantage contractors, further improving their bottom lines."
My final point, it is obvious that regardless of what any politician or member of the media says, we Americans are going to pay a new tax regardless of what we do. Now that the Supreme Court has allowed Obamacare to remain, the only way to avoid those taxes would be for a future congress and president to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a plan that works without raising taxes.
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