CBO SLAMS REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE PLAN
Congressional Desk
November 07, 2009
"CBO has confirmed that the Republican substitute isn't a solution, it's the status quo," said Rep. Stark. "They spend $61 billion, and the number of uninsured actually increases relative to today."
Some key points about the CBO analysis:
>> Doesn't expand health insurance coverage. Seventeen percent of legal, non-elderly residents won't have health insurance – the same percentage as today. That means in ten years, 52 million Americans – five million more than today – will be uninsured. [p. 3]
>> Won't help most consumers. "And in the large group market, which represents nearly 80 percent of total private premiums, the amendment would lower average insurance premiums in 2016 by zero to 3 percent compared with amounts under current law, according to CBO´s estimates." [p. 5]
>> Could increase premiums for older consumers. "For example, states that loosened rating rules in the market for individually purchased insurance to allow premiums to vary more on the basis of age would cause premiums for older people to increase and premiums for younger people to decrease." [p.7]
>> Provides fewer benefits and poorer coverage to many. "With other factors held equal, insurance policies that cover more benefits or services or have smaller copayments or deductibles have higher premiums, while policies that cover fewer benefits or services or have larger copayments or deductibles have lower premiums. Provisions in the amendment that would reduce insurance premiums by affecting the amount of coverage purchased include the State Innovations program, which would encourage states to reduce the number and extent of benefit mandates that they impose, and provisions that would allow individuals or affiliated groups to purchase insurance policies in other states that have less stringent mandates." [p. 6]
To read CBO's analysis of the Republican substitute, visit: http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=10705
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