What G.O.P.-Style Reform Looks Like
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD, NYT
FEB. 1, 2014
Three Republican senators — Orrin Hatch of Utah, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard Burr of North Carolina — have issued an alternative to the health care reforms that they deride as Obamacare. Conservative analysts have hailed their proposals as “an important milestone in the health care debate” and a “reform that has enormous promise.” But the plan, which is hard to parse because it has not been put into precise legislative language, looks inferior in most respects to the existing law.
The plan would repeal the Affordable Care Act and substitute an alternative that would likely cover fewer uninsured people, raise premiums for many older adults, shrink Medicaid, cut back on subsidies for middle class Americans, scale back protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and allow private insurers to escape many of the consumer-friendly requirements now imposed on them.
It is a blueprint for what the Republicans hope to do if they capture the White House in 2016. They say they are relying on market competition to keep costs down; empowering consumers to choose plans they want, not plans whose benefits are set by the federal government; emphasizing private insurance, not government programs; and giving states the primary role in managing the reform effort.
(More here.)
FEB. 1, 2014
Three Republican senators — Orrin Hatch of Utah, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard Burr of North Carolina — have issued an alternative to the health care reforms that they deride as Obamacare. Conservative analysts have hailed their proposals as “an important milestone in the health care debate” and a “reform that has enormous promise.” But the plan, which is hard to parse because it has not been put into precise legislative language, looks inferior in most respects to the existing law.
The plan would repeal the Affordable Care Act and substitute an alternative that would likely cover fewer uninsured people, raise premiums for many older adults, shrink Medicaid, cut back on subsidies for middle class Americans, scale back protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and allow private insurers to escape many of the consumer-friendly requirements now imposed on them.
It is a blueprint for what the Republicans hope to do if they capture the White House in 2016. They say they are relying on market competition to keep costs down; empowering consumers to choose plans they want, not plans whose benefits are set by the federal government; emphasizing private insurance, not government programs; and giving states the primary role in managing the reform effort.
(More here.)
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Did you see how Forbes described the announcement ?
The Proposed Republican Replacement For ObamaCare Is A Big Tax Hike
FORBES states :
The average employer health plan for a family of four costs $16,351, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the employer covers 72% of that, or $11,772. Thirty-five percent of $11,772 is $4,120.35. The employee's share of the Social Security and Medicare payroll tax is 7.65%, or $315.21. Assuming this family of four is in the 25% marginal income tax bracket, that would add another $1,030.09, for a total tax increase of $1,345.
The article does not ask the question, How will States treat this ... will they want to tax ?
A follow-up article stated :
Welcome back junk health plans. With no minimum or Essential Health Benefits, it’s back to the gamification of healthcare plans, options and costs. It simply defies any actuarial science or logic for individuals to be able to pick and choose a health plan “that best meets their individual health care needs.” Under what conditions and criteria – and when? Using my smartphone strapped to a gurney in the ambulance?
While most of the deficit reduction comes from increased tax collections ($1057B over 10 years) there is a small amount attributed to malpractice reform ($45B)
... gosh, with all the complaining wouldn't you have thought it would be more ?
Well, Forbes notes consumer watchdog Public Citizen August announcement that the number of malpractice payments on behalf of physicians as reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank fell for the ninth consecutive year in 2012.
The Forbes article concludes : A Republican sponsored tax on working Americans. I know it’s winter – and unseasonably cold in many parts of the country – but did hell just freeze over?
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