Surprise, Surprise! Obama Care's Cost Estimates Might Not Be Accurate

According to an Associated Press article on April 23, 2010, economic experts from the government's Health and Human Services Department have completed an analysis of the recently ramrodded through Obama Care health care reform legislation. Their report's conclusions are not good:

• The legislation will not reduce health care costs as advertising by President Obama, it will increase health care costs by 1% over ten years.
• That increase is likely to be larger since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable.
• Medicare cuts, as laid out in the legislation, could drive about 15% of hospitals and other institutional providers "into the red" and "possibly jeopardizing access to care for seniors."
• The analysis forecasted that payment reductions to private Medicare Advantage plans would force many seniors to rely on the traditional Medicare program but many of them would face higher out of pocket costs under this scenario.
• The analysis also concluded that the new voluntary long-term care insurance program included in the legislation faces "a very serious risk of insolvency."

Let's review. Just weeks after the legislation was passed, it looks like health care costs will continue to rise (not decrease as promised), the supply of medical services providers under the Medicare umbrella might substantially decrease (resulting in health care cost increases for many Americans: reduce the supply, keep demand constant and prices/costs have to go up), and a brand new program (long-term care insurance) is already in danger of going broke. This report was not done by Republicans or a conservative cause group. It was done by employees within Obama's HHS department and was done by trained economists and actuaries. What a disaster.

Now, the legislation will theoretically provide an additional 34 million Americans with affordable health care insurance, according to the report, which is a good thing. Whether that happens is yet to bee seen. However, as we have pointed out many times in this blog, even with this legislation, in ten years Americans:

• Will still be overweight
• Will still not get enough exercise
• Will still smoke too much.
• Will still consume too much salt in their diet.
• Will still face with an Alzheimer's epidemic.
• Will still face high levels of breast and lung cancer.

These are the root causes of high health care costs, unless you solve these problems no legislation in the world will reduce health care costs. And it appears, according to this latest HHS analysis, Obama Care will not reduce health care costs. In the process though, Obama Care will cost the country at least a TRILLION dollars, will endanger the health care plans the vast majority of Americans currently have, will impose a draconian requirement forcing Americans to purchase a service they may not want, and will keep the country divided for a long time, both because of its uselessness and the underhanded way it was enacted into law. Surprise, surprise.

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