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ObamaCare’s “Greatest Hits”

March 22, 2013

After spending more than $2 trillion and raising more than $1 trillion in new taxes, the President and Congressional Democrats have been unable to deliver on the promises they made while promoting their health care law.  Three years later, American families and businesses are facing the tough and costly realities of ObamaCare’s “greatest hits,” a record that includes tunes like higher health insurance premiums, losing the health plan you have and like and employers being forced to cut wages, limit hiring or reduce the size of their business.  There is a better way.  The House GOP alternative to the Democrats’ health care law was the only legislation that met the top health care priority of American families – lowering the cost of health insurance premiums, music to their ears.
 
Individuals and Families Will Pay More for Health Care
“In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.” (Then-Senator Barack Obama June 5, 2008)

  • According to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, once the ObamaCare Exchanges and Medicaid expansion take effect in 2014, private health insurance premium growth will increase 108 percent faster than what would have occurred without ObamaCare.  Also in 2014, national health spending is projected to rise 39.6 percent faster than what would have occurred without ObamaCare.
  • The New York Times recently reported health insurance premium hikes up to double digits in some states.  The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that, on top of 2011 premium increases of 8 percent for single coverage and 9 percent for family coverage, in 2012 the average premium for single coverage was 3 percent higher and the average premium for family coverage was 4 percent higher than last year’s report.
  • Beginning in 2014, Americans buying coverage on their own or as an employee of a small business – whether inside or outside the Exchange – will be forced to pay a “user fee” totaling 3.5 percent of the monthly premium to fund the bureaucratic operations of the government-run federal Exchange.

You Can’t Keep the Health Plan You Have and Like
“[N]othing 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 before a Joint Session of Congress, September 9, 2009)

  • Based on two separate analyses provided by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Deloitte, as many as 20 million to 65 million Americans could lose their employer-sponsored health insurance as a result of the Democrats’ health care law.
  • The Wall Street Journal reported that annual premium increases and costs associated with the law, including a $65 per person coverage fee set to take effect beginning in 2014, are driving, and will continue to drive up the cost of care and make it prohibitive to continue offering health coverage.  A result of such cost pressures is that employers are being forced to discontinue the offering of spousal coverage in employer health plans.  
  • ObamaCare contains $308 billion in cuts to the Medicare Advantage (MA) program, which the Medicare Trustees originally predicted could cut enrollment in MA in half by 2017. And, approximately 9 in 10 seniors with retiree benefits will lose their retiree prescription drug coverage through their employer under the Democrats’ health care law.

ObamaCare Threatens Job Creation, Wages, and Hours
“It’s about jobs.  In its life, it [the health care law] will create 4 million jobs – 400,000 jobs almost immediately.”(Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) February 25, 2010)

  • As USA Today and The Wall Street Journal reported, many businesses plan to bring on more part-time workers next year, trim the hours of full-time employees or curtail hiring because of the new health care law. It is no wonder that 70 percent of small businesses cite the health care law as a major obstacle to job creation.
  • According to a study by the Hudson Institute, ObamaCare’s employer mandate would put up to 3.2 million jobs at risk.  Echoing that, the Federal Reserve recently warned, “Employers in several Districts cited the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.”
  • According to CBO, the amount of workers in the labor force will be reduced by 800,000 in 2021 as a result of the Democrats’ health care law.

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