Video: Large companies will get hit with 9% increase in health costs under ObamaCare
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posted at 3:35 pm on August 18, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
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Douglas Holtz-Eakin discusses a new survey on the impact of ObamaCare on large companies in this clip from Fox News. This survey of employers with five thousand employees shows that executives are planning for a sharp increase in health-care costs, mainly from new mandates in ObamaCare and the lack of control over the actual costs in providing health care. Those costs will get passed to employees in part, but it’s also likely to reduce their impulse to expand jobs in the next couple of years. The former CBO director also predicts that companies will look at shedding their retiree coverage programs, as predicted during the ObamaCare debate — and will end up pushing more people onto Medicare and Medicaid:
Some of these costs were expected, but Democrats argued that the tax breaks in the plan would offset the damage, especially for smaller businesses. The Orange County Register reports on another analysis of the bill that determined that less than half the number of small businesses predicted by ObamaCare advocates will actually qualify:In California, only a third of the state’s employers will wind up qualifying, thanks to the high salary level in the state. That won’t do anything to boost the economy, of course, but instead will give employers more reason to give up insurance benefits altogether. Cost increases that far outstrip inflation cannot be borne without either eliminating the source of the increase, reducing compensation, or raising prices. All of those options spell trouble for California’s economy — and that of the rest of the nation.
Fewer than 2 million of the nation’s 6 million companies with employees qualify for the small-business tax credits included in the new health insurance reform law, says the National Federation of Independent Business.
The law’s supporters had projected that twice as many small businesses would qualify for the tax credit. NFIB has joined a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care law.
An employer with 17 workers and an average wage of $39,000 will not qualify for a tax credit, NFIB says. Also, none of the 23 million-plus self employed Americans can get the tax credit either.
Bloomberg also reports on the same survey Holtz-Eakin reviews (h/t DogSoldier):
Workers will pay more for their health care next year as U.S. companies prepare for provisions of the overhaul signed into law by President S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" target="_blank">Barack Obama, according to a survey released today.
About 63 percent of businesses plan to make employees pay a higher percentage of their premium costs in 2011, said the Washington-based National Business Group on Health, which surveyed 72 companies that employ more than 3.7 million people. The survey showed 46 percent plan to raise the maximum level of out-of-pocket costs that workers must bear.
The companies surveyed expect their costs of health-care benefits to rise an average of 8.9 percent next year. The legislation Obama signed in March will contribute an estimated 1 percentage point to the higher expense, S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" target="_blank">Helen Darling, the business group’s president, said at a press conference in Washington today. Employee-paid portions may see small increases, she said.
Last edited by Spark; 08-18-2010, 08:59 PM.
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Originally posted by WayneChung View Post
Chunger,
The same thing would happen with Cap and trade bs, energy will cost more and will be passed onto the little guy. But Al Gore will make more millions.
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Turn the middle class into the lower class. Demonize the upper class. Redistribute money from rich and borrow more to have lower class depend on govt. Lower class cares less about power usurped as long as "freebies" keep coming. Larger lower class continues to vote money/food/shelter/health care providers into office.Leave a comment:
also guys i am not doing a republican-democrat thing here,i like wayne think both presidents current and past suck,just stating simple cause and effect,it is just liked when the govt put the big tax on tobacco-DID BIG TOBACCO SUFFER,NO THEY JUST PASSED IT ON TO THE CONSUMER,RASING PRICES FROM 2 BUCKS TO 5 BUCKS A PACK-YOU THINK THE BIG INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE GOING TO TAKE A LOSS IN PROFIT-IT WILL BE PASSED ON TO THE GOOD CUSTOMERS WHO ALWAYS PAY THEIR BILLS-end of story-WHEN IS ANYBODY GOING TO CARE ABOUT US POOR ASS FUCKERS WHO GIVE BLOOD,SWEAT,AND TEARS EVERYDAY,YET WE ARE NOT EVEN MIDDLE CLASS ANYMORE-I HAVE NOT BEEN ON A VACATION IN 4 YEARS BECAUSE OF CRAP LIKE THIS-WHAT A GREAT FUCKING ECONOMY !!!!Originally posted by WayneChung View PostLeave a comment:
also i have had nothing happen out of the blue the last year to warrant a raise.Originally posted by WayneChung View PostLeave a comment:
here are the facts for me since obama's health package passed,my insurance,which i pay on my own,not through work,has risen 33 % in 6 months // on top of that i have some co-existing issues so changing plans is not an option-anyone else feeling the heat ??Leave a comment:
Re: A Vision Of ObamacareHealth Care Premiums Are Already Soaring In Advance of Obamacare
Even before Obamacare kicks into high gear, the consumer is getting taken advantage of with any recourse.
This past month millions of Americans got notice from Blue Cross/Blue Shield providers across the country that their were going way up effective immediately. Here is the terse reason CareFirst/ Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Washington gave its subscribers for raising a monthly premium from $333 to $512 on a middle aged man who is healthy, is not a smoker and is not obese: "Your new rate reflects the overall rise in health care costs and we regret having to pass these additional costs on to you."
Recently, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly also received a similar notice from his health care provider, (Anthem Blue Cross), and was told that his annual premium will increase by $2,100.
The excuse given was the same boilerplate as set forth above.
An 85-year-old New Yorker received notice from his health care provider, (Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield), wherein he was notified that:
1. His Medicare is being increased from $1,068 to $1,100;
2. His co-insurance liability for skilled nursing facilities is being increased from $267 per day to $275 per day and that 60 lifetime reserve days is being increased from $534 to $550;
3. His Medicare Part B deductible is being increased from $135 to $155.
American health care providers are gouging consumers in advance of Obamacare taking effect in 2014.
According to publicly available profit and loss statements, our nation's largest health care providers such as, Wellpoint, United Health Group, Cigna and Aetna collectively posted a net income of over 12 billion dollars in 2009.
Is it not just a little bit suspicious and beyond coincidence that so many Americans are receiving these letters from separate "independent" health care providers all over the country? The letters are almost identical in content and verbiage.
According to the Consumers Union report, not-for-profit Blue Cross/Blue Shield groups are raising health insurance premiums by as much as double digits to build up their cash reserves -- in some instances to more than three times what states require.
It is no secret that these companies generate substantial investment income from reserves.
Here are just a few of the worst examples cited by Consumers Union:
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona raised its reserves from $648 million in 2007 to $717 million in 2009 (more than seven times the amount required in that state). During that time, individual policy rates jumped about 40 percent.
- Health Care Services Corp., which includes Blues plans in Texas, Illinois, New Mexico and Oklahoma, built up its surplus from $6.1 billion in 2007 to $6.7 billion in 2009, five times the minimum in those states. Meanwhile, its plans' rates rose by up to 20 percent a year.
So which is it? Are the companies raising rates to build reserves or are they raising rates in advance of rising costs they are anticipating by Obamacare, or are they raising rates because of an actual rise in the of actual medical costs? You cannot get a straight answer.
If, in fact, health care providers are sitting on piles on cash that is far in excess of what it should be under state laws, why are they not rebating those surpluses to policyholders, as many automobile insurance companies do?
Another example of how Obamacare has influenced the behavior of health care providers is that under the new federal law it mandates that no more that 20 percent of every premium dollar be attributable to administrative costs. Therefore many companies who currently run 26 percent of administrative costs for every dollar have now "reclassified" many administrative services as "medical" so they do not lose income and can avoid reducing overhead.
In April of this year, the U.S. Senate reported that Wellpoint alone reclassified more than half a billion dollars in services from "administrative" to "medical."
The bottom line is that in advance of Obamacare the consumer is getting taken advantage of with any recourse.
Looming over their heads is a law that does not even take effect until 2014. In the meantime We the People are stuck between greedy insurance companies and incompetent government.
Now is the time to repeal and replace Obamacare. The answer to health care reforms does not lie in creating a government system it lies in improving a free market system. Here are some of the reforms that should be done:
1. Creation of refundable for health care costs;
2. Strengthening health savings accounts;
3. Repeal of the 7/5% threshold on deduction for medical expenses;
4. Allow for purchase of health care insurance across state lines;
and
5. Facilitate the import on FDA approved drugs.
At a time of deep recession, high unemployment, record home foreclosures and personal and business bankruptcies, the last thing we need is further economic uncertainty looming with regard to nationalized health care.
America, let's not accept commercial gouging or government incompetence and bureaucracy. Let's fix what needs fixing!
A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to the Fox Forum.Leave a comment:
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Berwick's First Strike: Susan G. Komen Foundation and Ovarian Cancer Alliance Decry First-Ever Medicare Denials of FDA-Approved Cancer Drugs
Just days after the recess appointment of Donald Berwick, the controversial new head of Medicare and Medicaid, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance posted the following grim news: for the first time in history, an FDA-approved anti-cancer therapy may not be covered by Medicare.
Provenge, a vaccine to treat the recurrence of prostate cancer, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)... Medicare usually covers the cost of FDA-approved anti-cancer therapies. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is still reviewing whether it will cover Provenge, and at what rate.
The CMS statute states that Medicare must cover therapies that are reasonable and necessary, while the FDA is instructed to approve drugs that are safe and effective. Because of the conflicting Federal coverage and approval requirements, there are some non-FDA approved drugs (called off-label drugs) that are paid for by CMS. However, with respect to Provenge, it appears that CMS is arguing that while the treatment is safe and effective, it may not be reasonable and necessary. For the first time, an FDA approved anti-cancer therapy may not be covered by Medicare.
A life-saving cancer treatment "may not be reasonable and necessary"? Gee, that kind of decision-making by an unelected federal bureaucracy certainly sounds like a death panel to me.
Say, I thought the President said that pre-existing conditions would always be covered. Isn't cancer a pre-existing condition?
Oh. What's this?Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Ovarian Cancer National Alliance Appeal to FDA and Key Lawmakers on Avastin Issue
Patient Access and the Impact on Development of New Treatments at the Heart of Komen for the Cure's Concerns
Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA) today urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to continue to allow the use of the drug bevacizumab, commonly known as Avastin, for metastatic breast cancer patients, noting that it is effective for some patients and warning of a chilling effect on new drug development if approval is withdrawn...
...In a joint letter sent to the FDA and key Congressional lawmakers Thursday, Komen for the Cure and the OCNA wrote, "We are particularly concerned about patients who are presently receiving bevacizumab and the message that this decision sends about drug development for women with advanced breast cancer."
...According to Komen, the decision to use Avastin should be made between a woman and her doctor after a thoughtful conversation that carefully considers the drug's benefits and risks. Komen does not want to see access limited by Medicare and Medicaid.
Gee, and I thought no one would be denied coverage by ObamaCare.
Didn't the President himself say, "I want seniors to know, despite what some have said, these reforms will not cut your guaranteed benefits."
That's what President Obama told us, endlessly and repeatedly, for months on end.
Do you mean to say he was lying?
Folks, this is precisely why the cancer survival rate for the U.K. is so much lower than that of the U.S. -- and, in some cases, lower than Eastern Europe's. And why Donald Berwick's nickname is Dr. Death.
America's seniors are about to find out that having coverage is not the same thing as receiving care. And our seniors are about to pay the piper.
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Bitch better have it ready!Originally posted by vitterd View PostLeave a comment:
I can understand how idiotic it is. I can understand how anyone above a 4th grade level can see how the comparison makes no sense. Comparing pitt and balt to obama and bush deportation numbers is just silly. Considering u are comparing 2 peoples record with 2 teams in a league that has over 20 teams to compare it to. I can't even believe u could be this lost....change that. I believe itOriginally posted by Jamaicanman View PostLeave a comment:
Just b/c you can't understand them?Originally posted by vitterd View PostLeave a comment:
Originally posted by vols fan View PostHoly SHIT YALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vitterd just involved Sports in one of his post
We will have him in the "All Sports discussion" in no time. Hell,he might even vote republican next time
damn, soon you and vitterd will be drinking beer together !!!
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