But, despite what the critics charge, this is not a government takeover.
Its not a government takeover of health care, and it's only a partial government takeover of health insurance, but you don't have to take over (in terms of directly owning, funding, and/or running) that much, to control a lot control.
And the program is not only fully paid for it should actually reduce the deficit over the next two decades.
Only if you but the games and distortions that are built in to the bill. The reality is the bill is in no way fully paid for. It will increase deficits by quite a lot. Also even if it was deficit neutral, that still wouldn't be "paid for", the cost wouldn't be zero, the cost would be extra taxes.
It would also require insurance companies to accept all applicants, even those with a pre-existing condition.
In other words it will require them to operate as something other than insurance companies, and it will require subsdizing those with pre-existing conditions.
the number of uninsured people — 46 million in 2008
A bogus number as has been shown here numerous times
is sure to spike upward as rising medical costs and soaring premiums make policies less affordable
The mandates involved in this "reform" effort will make insurance premiums even less affordable, it will just have the government pay part of the premium for some people, but that's not making anything any cheaper, just making someone else pay for it.
It should be no surprise that people without insurance often postpone needed care, and many get much sicker as a result.
Certainly some people will be less healthy, but others will be more healthy, or will spend less in terms of money and time and not be any worse off. Just considering health, I'd expect there to be an overall benefit from wider coverage but even in isolation that isn't certain (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/myth-diagnosis/7905/), and to the extent the new system messes up incentives, reduces innovation, pushes doctors out or care levels down (all of which are possible, even if none is certain), than the net effect could be to make people's health worse, possible even to make many currently considered uninsured face worse health outcomes.
The Senate’s reform bill would reduce the number of uninsured by an estimated 31 million in 2019.
There is simple no way to reliably estimate the change. That number is little better than pulling some figure out of thin air and proclaiming it the truth.
The recently announced plan by Anthem Blue Cross in California to raise annual premiums by 35 to 39 percent
is 1 - an outlier, and 2 - Probably was partially encouraged by the cost of government meddling in the insurance industry and the possible cost of proposed meddling.
That will increase the risk that this group will forgo needed care and will expose many more of them to potential bankruptcy if they cannot pay huge medical bills.
The medical bankruptcy issue is vastly overrated. Most numbers presented are from one study, taken when bankruptcy law was in flux, that considered any bankruptcy with over $5000 of medical bills included to be a "medical bankruptcy".
Many reforms that people instinctively believe should cut costs — computerization of medical records, paying doctors for quality not quantity of services, and prevention programs to promote healthy living and head off costly illnesses — cannot yet be shown to lower costs.
Good point.
Pending reform legislation, specifically the Senate bill, would launch an array of pilot projects to test reforms in delivering and paying for care
Which could be done as private initiatives, or as government programs without the overhead of all the other subsidies, mandates, etc.
The truth of the matter is that the pending reform legislation has been designed to generate enough revenue and savings to more than offset the substantial cost of expanding Medicaid and providing subsidies to the middle class.
Only if you offset 6 years of costs against 10 years of revenue.
The pending reforms would cut the growth in Medicare spending per beneficiary in half — from 4 percent a year to 2 percent
Which 1 - Probably won't happen, and 2 - Probably will cause problems of people receiving Medicare if they do happen. |
