FixHealthCarePolicy

Galen Institute: House Bill Breaks Major Promises

Galen Institute President Grace Marie-Turner in a new blog questions how President Barack Obama can back the new House health care bill when it breaks many of the promises he and his Administration have been making for months.

Turner details how the legislation would break the following reform pledges:

– The health reform bill would lower health spending. In fact, the House bill pushes the federal cost curve up, not down, by costing $1.05 trillion in the first 10 years. And that’s not even addressing the “doc fix” issue that will cost $245 billion.

– Middle-class families would not be taxed. There are a wide buffet of tax increases in the House bill that violate the president’s pledge. And add to that the $33 billion individuals would pay because they didn’t want to buy expensive, federally mandated health coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

– If you like your health insurance, you can keep it. A coalition of major business groups already said the House bill jeopardizes the health care insurance that employers provide to 160 million workers. Additionally, previous research has shown 88.1 million Americans would be shifted out of their employer-based health coverage if a public plan was introduced.

“The 400,000-word House health reform bill is absolutely astonishing in the level of government intrusion it would shove into the lives of every American, every business, and every health care professional. I won’t bore you here with the legislative jargon, but pick a page, any page, and you will see what I mean,” Turner writes.

Tags: Galen Institute, HR 3962, President Barack Obama