Health Care Costs on the Rise

Many people have questioned (including myself) whether the President's health care bill would actually lower health care costs in the long term as the President promised. Today, their doubts were confirmed. According to research done by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Democrats' health care bill now signed into law will raise our nation's health care costs, not lower them.

The House Republican Conference has compiled some highlights of the CMS findings:

    * National health care expenditures will increase by $311 billion.
    * Health care increases to 21% of GDP by 2019.
    * ObamaCare spends more than $828 billion for health care coverage. (CMS
       didn’t analyze all the tax increases, such as HSAs, FSAs, increasing the AGI
       threshold, etc.)
    * The government will spend $410 billion to expand Medicaid.
    * Medicaid enrollment increases by 20 million new beneficiaries.
    * 18 million people will be uninsured (excluding 5 million illegal immigrants).
    * Uninsured and those employers who don’t offer coverage will pay $120 billion in
       taxes.
    * 50% of seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage plans.
    * Some of the Medicare cost-control mechanisms may not be sustainable.
    * Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) will run a deficit
       in 15 years.
    * The $5 billion for High Risk Pools is not enough.
    * Doctors may drop out of Medicare because of the changes in Medicare
       reimbursement rates.
    * Medicare “savings” may be difficult to achieve.

Now more than ever Congress needs to repeal this 2,000 page monstrosity of a bill filled with legalese, loopholes and massive liabilities. We need to start over and put forth common sense reforms that won't break the bank.