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Virtually Every American with Health Insurance from Their Job Will Fall Victim to the Lie: “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan”

May 2, 2014 — The Prescription Pad   


“First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job…. nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.  Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.”  (President Obama to a Joint Session of Congress, September 2009)

The rollout of the President’s health care law resulted in as many as 5 million Americans having their policies canceled.  Though President Obama apologized for millions of Americans “finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me,” it looks like the worst is yet to come.  

More and more evidence shows that the President’s health care law will result in employers dropping coverage, with one estimate finding that up to 144 million Americans could find their health care coverage is at risk.  That is roughly 90 percent of the people who currently get health insurance through their job.  

Sadly, this isn’t new news.  Back in 2012, a Ways and Means report found employers would save billions by dropping insurance after ObamaCare was in place.  Now, one of the key architects of ObamaCare and a new report by S&P Capital IQ predicts the same.

The Evidence:

Ways and Means Committee
The 2012 report, “BROKEN PROMISE:  Why ObamaCare Will Force Americans to Lose the Health Care Coverage They Have and Like” concluded:

  • The average Fortune 100 employer could save $4,800 per employee annually on an after-tax basis by dropping health coverage.
  • From 2014 through 2023, the average Fortune 100 employer could save $5.9 billion if they dropped coverage in favor of paying the mandate penalty.
  • From 2014 through 2023, the Fortune 100 companies alone could save $422.4 billion if they dropped coverage.

S&P Capital IQ
A new report, by S&P Capital IQ predicts:  

  • By 2020, about 90 percent of American workers who now receive health insurance through their employers will be shifted to government exchanges created by the health law.  The biggest American companies would save $700 billion between 2016 and 2025.  The total could reach $3.25 trillion for all companies with more than 50 employees.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel
A new book by one of the key architects of the President’s health care law, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel predicts, as a result of the law the proportion of private-sector workers who receive health care from employers will fall below 20 percent by 2025.  According to the New York Times, “That scale of change would dwarf what took place last fall, when a political firestorm erupted over President Obama’s ‘if you like your plan you can keep it’ pledge.”

That’s because the number of Americans who currently receive coverage from their employer is 32 times larger than the 5 million who lost their coverage in the first year of the President’s health care law.

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