Update: It is being reported today that the Obama administration received the damning report discussed below one month before the health insurance bill passed, and hid it from the public until a few days ago.
Everyone in America should be aware of Richard Foster’s latest report. As Medicare’s head actuary, Mr. Foster divulged some very concerning statistics last Thursday.
In the report he mentions the possibility of millions of people losing their health insurance due to Obamacare, that premiums will rise faster than if the reform bill had not past, and finding a doctor will become much more difficult.
It is no secret that I am not a fan of the new health insurance legislation, and one would be right to wonder if these projections are not just more in a long list of Republican scare tactics. Yes, this would be reasonable. The problem is that these projections come from the head actuary of one of the largest federal entitlement programs the federal government offers, not some Republican senator.
Mr. Foster states that by 2019, fourteen million people will lose their small group health insurance coverage when their employers cancel their policies, forcing the employees into Medicaid. He also projects that half of all seniors with a Medicare Advantage plan will lose their coverage under this type of plan and the extra health benefits the plans include.
According to the report there will be huge penalties paid by small employers, to the tune of eighty-seven billion dollars by 2019, partly because these employers cannot afford the expensive federally mandated group health insurance policies, and partly because some employees will apply for a tax-subsidized medical insurance, which will kick in another fine per employee.
The new CLASS-Act, which is part of the new federal health insurance reform package, is destined to fail according to Mr. Foster. Only those that will use the benefits will enroll, otherwise known as adverse selection. The program will be insolvent within a few years of it’s launch.
The Cost Curve will rise, not fall as President Obama has stated, to the tune of nearly $400,000,000! Four hundred million dollars more spent in ten years on health insurance claims.
The report also states that 23 million people will choose to pay the low fine for not having health insurance, instead opting to purchase the medical insurance only when they have a claim. Mr. Foster goes on to say that 5 million of the 23 million uninsured will be undocumented aliens.
Spending reductions will not happen as projected by the Obama administration according to the report. The main culprits are Medicare and group employers. Many small group employers will drop their policies and stick the cost of insuring their employees on the federal government.
And the news gets worse unfortunately. Rarely mentioned, there is a new, yearly $14 billion dollar tax on health insurance policies starting in 2014. This new tax will be passed onto consumers of course, their health insurance policies becoming that much more expensive. This new tax works out to about another $1000 a year for the average family of four.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769
An Arizona health insurance broker.