Fix Health Care Policy

Unions Insult Taxpayers with Obamacare Subsidy Request

Labor union leaders, who are big supporters of President Obama and were big proponents of his health care reform law, want taxpayer dollars to help pay for the increase in their health care costs due to Obamacare.

There are many provisions in Obamacare that will raise the cost of insurance in both the individual and employer markets. To name just a few of these provisions: no pre-existing condition exclusions, no cost-sharing on certain preventative benefits, children can stay on their parents’ plan until they’re 26, and no cap on medical benefits.

It should surprise no one that adding benefits and restricting cost-sharing adds considerable costs to health plans.

However, it appears the unions were too busy supporting Obamacare to do the math. Unions are now asking for a reprieve from the higher costs in the form of taxpayer subsidies for their lower income workers with employer-sponsored insurance. However, the subsidies are only intended to go to those purchasing coverage in the new exchanges, not to anyone with employer-sponsored insurance.

To be clear, they want taxpayer subsidies to offset the cost of their insurance while non-union workers in the same predicament would not receive help.

This request should insult every American taxpayer. These unions are using their political clout to ask for special treatment under the law at the expense of taxpayers.

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: benefits, Cadillac tax, cost-sharing, health plans, labor unions, ObamaCare, subsidies

Happy Birthday, Obamacare? What It Really Means for Women

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of Obamacare. While advocates spend the week highlighting the new law’s effects on different groups of Americans, we will do the same. A review of the facts on the ground and the conclusions of Heritage research over the past year reveal the far-reaching negative consequences of the new law.

Today, the argument is that Obamacare is good for women. Though there are sure to be those who experience some benefit under the new law, its overall effect will be negative for all Americans, women included.

The act includes new requirements that all health plans cover specific preventive services with no cost-sharing. Increasing prevention of serious illness is necessary to promote better health among Americans and would also likely reduce long-term health care spending. But Obamacare goes about it in the wrong ways, and it will have unintended consequences that hurt patients. Last year’s recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Service Task Force (USPSTF) regarding breast cancer screening for women between the ages of 40 and 50 highlights how these changes could hurt women specifically. (Read the rest at The Foundry…)

Tags: cost-sharing, negative consequences, Obamacare anniversary, preventive services, women