FBD
02-05-2013, 08:32 PM
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/5/obama-health-law-will-cost-7-million/
Seven million will lose insurance under Obama health law
President Obama's health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.
CBO said that this year's tax cuts have changed the incentives for businesses and made it less attractive to pay for insurance, meaning fewer will decide to do so. Instead, they'll choose to pay a penalty to the government, totaling $13 billion in higher fees over the next decade.
But the non-partisan agency also expects fewer people to have to pay individual penalties to the IRS than it earlier projects, because of a better method for calculating incomes that found more people will be exempt.
Overall, the new health provisions are expected to cost the government $1.165 trillion over the next decade — the same as last year's projection.
With other spending cuts and tax increases called for in the health law, though, CBO still says Mr. Obama's signature achievement will reduce budget deficits in the short term.
During the health care debate Mr. Obama had said individuals would be able to keep their plans.
Pathway to citizenship could increase Obamacare cost up to $300 billion over a decade
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/05/pathway-to-citizenship-may-increase-obamacare-cost-up-to-300-billion-over-a-decade/
Any immigration package in which current illegal immigrants are made eligible for Obamacare — in the form of either exchanges or Medicaid — could increase costs to the federal government by between $120 billion to $200 billion in its first decade, according to internal calculations by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee that were obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller.
GOP Senate Budget Committee staffers explained to TheDC that the estimates assume that the law’s provision capping total spending on exchange subsidies, which is set to begin in 2019, is enforced.
However, should the provision fall by the wayside, as some analysts believe it could, the staffers estimate the cost of Obamacare could increase between $210 billion to $300 billion over the next 10 years.
They add that if the capping provision is sustained, making millions of illegal immigrants eligible for Obamacare could also result in a benefit cut of approximately $1,100 annually for the average American receiving a subsidized benefit through the exchanges, which are now called “marketplaces” by the administration. (RELATED: Administration says “marketplaces” sounds better in Spanish)
Last March the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee estimated that Obamacare would increase unfunded obligations — or federal spending without a dedicated funding source — for federal health care programs by $17 trillion over 75 years, or from $65 trillion to $82 trillion.
Adding currently illegal immigrants, via a pathway to citizenship or other means, to Obamacare would further increase those unfunded obligations by another $2 trillion, based on their calculations.
To reach their conclusions, the staffers applied Congressional Budget Office estimates that 7 million illegal immigrants are without insurance, approximately 85 percent of whom have incomes low enough to qualify for the benefits — or less than 400 percent of the federal poverty line.
They further applied demographic data from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey to estimate that about half of the eligible illegal immigrants would be eligible for Medicaid, and the other half would be qualified for the subsidized exchange benefits.
Last week, TheDC reported the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating its welcome materials for new immigrants to include information about the president’s signature health care law. (RELATED: Government gives immigrant materials a makeover)
The House Judiciary Committee is set to hold the first hearing on immigration for either chamber of Congress on Tuesday morning.
but of course since it was decided to have been deemed to have been passed into law, it can never ever ever be removed by any action whatsoever :roll:
Oh, and of course, Unions want taxpayer subsidies to pick up the increase in costs...
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/02/05/unions-insult-taxpayers-with-obamacare-subsidy-request/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=unions-insult-taxpayers-with-obamacare-subsidy-request&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Labor union leaders, who are big supporters of President Obama and were big proponents of his health care reform law, want taxpayer dollars to help pay for the increase in their health care costs due to Obamacare.
There are many provisions in Obamacare that will raise the cost of insurance in both the individual and employer markets. To name just a few of these provisions: no pre-existing condition exclusions, no cost-sharing on certain preventative benefits, children can stay on their parents’ plan until they’re 26, and no cap on medical benefits.
It should surprise no one that adding benefits and restricting cost-sharing adds considerable costs to health plans.
However, it appears the unions were too busy supporting Obamacare to do the math. Unions are now asking for a reprieve from the higher costs in the form of taxpayer subsidies for their lower income workers with employer-sponsored insurance. However, the subsidies are only intended to go to those purchasing coverage in the new exchanges, not to anyone with employer-sponsored insurance.
To be clear, they want taxpayer subsidies to offset the cost of their insurance while non-union workers in the same predicament would not receive help.
This request should insult every American taxpayer. These unions are using their political clout to ask for special treatment under the law at the expense of taxpayers.
Thus far, the Administration has not caved in to their request but the unions are determined to keep up the pressure.
As The Wall Street Journal reports:
Top officers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the AFL-CIO and other large labor groups plan to keep pressing the Obama administration to expand the federal subsidies to these jointly run plans, warning that unionized employers may otherwise drop coverage. A handful of unions say they already have examined whether it makes sense to shift workers off their current plans and onto private coverage subsidized by the government. But dropping insurance altogether would undermine a central point of joining a union, labor leaders say.
Indeed, many employers will stop offering health insurance to their employees and send them into the federally subsidized exchanges. Estimates for loss of employer-sponsored coverage vary depending on the study or survey but the end result is always clear: Millions will lose the coverage they once had.
More at link
Seven million will lose insurance under Obama health law
President Obama's health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.
CBO said that this year's tax cuts have changed the incentives for businesses and made it less attractive to pay for insurance, meaning fewer will decide to do so. Instead, they'll choose to pay a penalty to the government, totaling $13 billion in higher fees over the next decade.
But the non-partisan agency also expects fewer people to have to pay individual penalties to the IRS than it earlier projects, because of a better method for calculating incomes that found more people will be exempt.
Overall, the new health provisions are expected to cost the government $1.165 trillion over the next decade — the same as last year's projection.
With other spending cuts and tax increases called for in the health law, though, CBO still says Mr. Obama's signature achievement will reduce budget deficits in the short term.
During the health care debate Mr. Obama had said individuals would be able to keep their plans.
Pathway to citizenship could increase Obamacare cost up to $300 billion over a decade
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/05/pathway-to-citizenship-may-increase-obamacare-cost-up-to-300-billion-over-a-decade/
Any immigration package in which current illegal immigrants are made eligible for Obamacare — in the form of either exchanges or Medicaid — could increase costs to the federal government by between $120 billion to $200 billion in its first decade, according to internal calculations by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee that were obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller.
GOP Senate Budget Committee staffers explained to TheDC that the estimates assume that the law’s provision capping total spending on exchange subsidies, which is set to begin in 2019, is enforced.
However, should the provision fall by the wayside, as some analysts believe it could, the staffers estimate the cost of Obamacare could increase between $210 billion to $300 billion over the next 10 years.
They add that if the capping provision is sustained, making millions of illegal immigrants eligible for Obamacare could also result in a benefit cut of approximately $1,100 annually for the average American receiving a subsidized benefit through the exchanges, which are now called “marketplaces” by the administration. (RELATED: Administration says “marketplaces” sounds better in Spanish)
Last March the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee estimated that Obamacare would increase unfunded obligations — or federal spending without a dedicated funding source — for federal health care programs by $17 trillion over 75 years, or from $65 trillion to $82 trillion.
Adding currently illegal immigrants, via a pathway to citizenship or other means, to Obamacare would further increase those unfunded obligations by another $2 trillion, based on their calculations.
To reach their conclusions, the staffers applied Congressional Budget Office estimates that 7 million illegal immigrants are without insurance, approximately 85 percent of whom have incomes low enough to qualify for the benefits — or less than 400 percent of the federal poverty line.
They further applied demographic data from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey to estimate that about half of the eligible illegal immigrants would be eligible for Medicaid, and the other half would be qualified for the subsidized exchange benefits.
Last week, TheDC reported the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating its welcome materials for new immigrants to include information about the president’s signature health care law. (RELATED: Government gives immigrant materials a makeover)
The House Judiciary Committee is set to hold the first hearing on immigration for either chamber of Congress on Tuesday morning.
but of course since it was decided to have been deemed to have been passed into law, it can never ever ever be removed by any action whatsoever :roll:
Oh, and of course, Unions want taxpayer subsidies to pick up the increase in costs...
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/02/05/unions-insult-taxpayers-with-obamacare-subsidy-request/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=unions-insult-taxpayers-with-obamacare-subsidy-request&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Labor union leaders, who are big supporters of President Obama and were big proponents of his health care reform law, want taxpayer dollars to help pay for the increase in their health care costs due to Obamacare.
There are many provisions in Obamacare that will raise the cost of insurance in both the individual and employer markets. To name just a few of these provisions: no pre-existing condition exclusions, no cost-sharing on certain preventative benefits, children can stay on their parents’ plan until they’re 26, and no cap on medical benefits.
It should surprise no one that adding benefits and restricting cost-sharing adds considerable costs to health plans.
However, it appears the unions were too busy supporting Obamacare to do the math. Unions are now asking for a reprieve from the higher costs in the form of taxpayer subsidies for their lower income workers with employer-sponsored insurance. However, the subsidies are only intended to go to those purchasing coverage in the new exchanges, not to anyone with employer-sponsored insurance.
To be clear, they want taxpayer subsidies to offset the cost of their insurance while non-union workers in the same predicament would not receive help.
This request should insult every American taxpayer. These unions are using their political clout to ask for special treatment under the law at the expense of taxpayers.
Thus far, the Administration has not caved in to their request but the unions are determined to keep up the pressure.
As The Wall Street Journal reports:
Top officers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the AFL-CIO and other large labor groups plan to keep pressing the Obama administration to expand the federal subsidies to these jointly run plans, warning that unionized employers may otherwise drop coverage. A handful of unions say they already have examined whether it makes sense to shift workers off their current plans and onto private coverage subsidized by the government. But dropping insurance altogether would undermine a central point of joining a union, labor leaders say.
Indeed, many employers will stop offering health insurance to their employees and send them into the federally subsidized exchanges. Estimates for loss of employer-sponsored coverage vary depending on the study or survey but the end result is always clear: Millions will lose the coverage they once had.
More at link