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National Health Care Spending to Increase by $311 Billion
May 03, 2010
Obama’s Medicare changes threaten to push 15% of hospital budgets into the red.
Economic experts at Health and Human Services issued new warnings this month about the long-term impacts of Obama’s new health care law. HHS concluded that while the bill will indeed cover more Americans, it won’t reduce cost. In fact, national health care spending will increase by at least $311 billion, over the next ten years. And chances are it’ll be much higher.
Just a month ago, President Obama said, “We’re going to have to see to it that these [health care] reforms are administered fairly and responsibly. And this includes rooting out waste and fraud and abuse in the system. That’s how we’ll extend the life of Medicare and bring down health care…. it is through these reforms that we achieve the biggest reduction in our long-term deficits…”
However, the Medicare changes Obama included in his plan threaten to push the budgets of at least 15% of all US hospitals and health care providers into the red, “possibly jeopardizing access” for seniors, the report cautioned. Furthermore, economists say the cuts upon which the Democrats based the savings of this plan are “unrealistic” and “unsustainable” over the long-term.
The report also warned:
· About 14 million people would lose their employer coverage by 2019 as smaller employers terminate coverage and workers who currently have employer coverage become enrolled in Medicaid;
· New fees and taxes on medical device makers will “generally be passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and devices prices and higher premiums”;
· By 2011 and 2012 the initial $5 billion in federal funding for the creation of a national high-risk pool “would be exhausted, resulting in substantial premium increases to sustain the program; we anticipate that such increases would limit further participation”;
· “It is reasonable to expect that a significant portion of the increased demand for Medicaid would be difficult to meet, particularly over the first few years”;
· Businesses would pay $87 billion in penalties between 2014-2019 for failure to offer insurance.
The Obama Administration and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius are trying to gloss over the findings by pointing to the 34 million who will become insured under the new law; however it’s clear this bill will do far more harm than good.
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