In his prime-time press conference Wednesday night, President Obama said that, “If somebody told you that there is a plan out there that is guaranteed to double your health-care costs over the next 10 years, that’s guaranteed to result in more Americans losing their health care, and that is by far the biggest contributor to our federal deficit, I think most people would be opposed to that.”

The House Democrats’ plan, however, does just that – it increases the cost of health care, forces millions of Americans to lose their current health care coverage and dramatically increases the deficit.

The cost of health coverage for those who currently have health insurance will skyrocket under the House Democrats’ plan.

• The Council for Affordable Health Insurance predicts that because of the changes House Democrats are seeking to make to the private health insurance market, the cost of health insurance premiums are expected to nearly double.
   
• The Democrats have modeled their so-called reforms after those enacted by the State of Massachusetts.  Alarmingly, the cheapest plan in Massachusetts can cost nearly $10,000 in premiums and out-of-pocket costs.Health insurance premiums in the state have increased at a staggering 10 to 12 percent per year rate, double the national average.
   

Analysis shows that most Americans will lose their current health care coverage under the House Democrats’ bill.

• The independent Lewin Group predicts that 2 out of every 3 Americans will lose their current health care coverage.

The Democrats’ health bill will bury our country deeper in debt.

• According to CBO, the House Democrats’ plan would increase the federal deficit by $239 billion over the next 10 years.
   
• In a Ways and Means markup, CBO also confirmed that the Democrats’ rate of spending will lead to “a substantial hole that would need to be filled by the other provisions if the overall legislation were to be deficit neutral at the end of the 10-year window and into the following decade.”  If the Democrats’ health care spending continues at those rates, it could cause a massive spike in the federal deficit – reaching as high as $1.6 trillion over the next 20 years.
   
• Those fears were echoed last week by CBO as the Washington Post reported that, “Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate [HELP] Committee do not propose ‘the sort of fundamental changes’ necessary to rein in the skyrocketing cost of government health programs. …Elmendorf said the measures would pile on an expensive new program to cover the uninsured. …His remarks suggested that rather than averting a looming fiscal crisis, the measures could make the nation’s bleak budget outlook even worse.”

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