FixHealthCarePolicy

What to Look For in the Latest House Health Care Bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just unveiled a hulking 1,990 page House health care bill (H.R. 3962). The latest product, which dwarfs the 1,342 page Clinton Health Plan of 1993, is the latest evolution of the House process, which started with H.R. 3200. The House Speaker made a number of general comments, saying that the legislation would lower costs for American families, enhance the solvency of the Medicare program, and add 36 million Americans to the health insurance rolls.

On the crucial question of financing, the Speaker made a point of saying that the bill is fiscally responsible and comes in under the $900 billion target set by President Obama, and would not expand the deficit. Of course, the Congressional Budget Office has not yet issued a formal “score”- or estimate- of the final product. So, it is hard to determine how, or if, the legislation would bend the health care cost curve downward, as President Obama has promised as a key ingredient in health care reform. (more…)

Tags: Baucus bill, health care reform, HR 3200, Medicare Advantage, Nancy Pelosi, Obama Health Care Plan, pelosi health bill, public option

The House Health Bill: The House Ways and Means Amendments

Editor’s note: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recently indicated she plans to use the House Ways and Means Committee version of health care reform as the base of the bill moving forward in the House. We’re reposting an analysis of what that bill looked like on the way out of committee and which amendments didn’t make it through.

Just before the August recess, the House health bill (HR 3200) cleared all three panels. The next step is House floor consideration, presumably in September. (more…)

Tags: Barack Obama, education and labor committee, government-run health care, health care amendments, House Ways and Means, HR 3200, Nancy Pelosi, Obama Health Care Plan

Morning Bell: Obamacare Sends Deficits Off Cliff

This Morning Bell is the second in a five-part week-long series (read Monday’s on out-of-pocket costs) on how Obamacare will affect you.

“I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. Period.” President Barack Obama promised this to the American people in his health care address before a Joint Session of Congress on September 9th. Problem is, no one believes him.

The Congressional Budget Office has issued reports on the Senate Health Committee bill (HELP), the House Tri-Committee Bill (HR 3200), and the Senate Finance Committee bill (Baucus bill). According to the CBO, the HELP bill would add $600 billion to the deficit in just the first ten years, HR 3200 would add $239 billion to the deficit in just the first ten years, and the Baucus bill claims to reduce the deficit by $81 billion. (more…)

Tags: Congressional Budget Office, HR 3200, morning bell

Moffit in National Review

At What Cost To Freedom?
Obama’s individual mandate is a bad idea

ROBERT MOFFIT

In his address to Congress, President Obama made clear that he and his allies know how to spend your health-care money better than you do. It’s a matter, you see, of “shared responsibility”: You share your dollars with the feds, and the feds are responsible for making your decisions. In the health-care bill currently before the House (H.R. 3200), there is even a “Health Choices Commissioner,” to be appointed by the president, who will rigorously define your choices.

On “shared responsibility,” the president brooks no dissent. “Unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek — especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions — just can’t be achieved,” he said. “That’s why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance.” This requirement is known as the “individual mandate.”

The president’s proposal is historic — though not in a good way. Never before has Congress forced Americans to buy a private good or service. In fact, for those with a traditional understanding of the Constitution as a charter of liberty (as opposed to the “living” version), the list of Congress’s powers in Article I, Section 8, grants it no authority to require any such thing.
(more…)

Tags: HR 3200, Individual Mandate, National Review

Thousands of Montanans Could Lose Private Health Insurance, Study Shows

President Barack Obama heads to Bozeman, Mont., on Friday to sway a skeptical public on his health care plan. Montana, like five other states analyzed by The Lewin Group, would be hit hard by a government-run public plan.

An estimated 256,700 residents in Montana could lose their private, employer-based coverage if Congress passes a House health reform bill, according to state-specific analysis of The American Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 released last month by The Heritage Foundation.

Heritage commissioned The Lewin Group, a highly respected health care policy and management consulting firm, to examine the impact a newly created government-run health plan within the House bill would have on Americans with private health insurance, including employer-based coverage, as well as its impact on Montana’s doctors and hospitals.

In addition to examining the national impact, Lewin analyzed several states including Montana to show how the major regions of the United States would be affected. Lewin’s estimates assume that all of the state’s employers become eligible for enrollment in the new public plan and health insurance exchange starting in the third year of implementation.

Of the estimated 489,200 Montana residents with private health insurance, 52 percent would transition out of private coverage, Lewin reports. Plus, 62 percent of the state’s population who get their private insurance from the workplace could have their existing coverage change or disappear under the House health bill.

“The data highlights the nasty, unintended consequences a government-run health insurance plan could have on states,” said Heritage Vice President Stuart Butler. “Many employees will be pushed into a public plan as employers respond to the legislation”s incentives to drop coverage.”

Another key finding from Lewin: 32 percent of Montana’s uninsured population would still lack coverage. Of the estimated 180,800 people without health coverage, the legislation would only reduce the uninsured by 123,200, leaving 57,600 Montanans without coverage.

Tags: HR 3200, Max Baucus, Montana, The Lewin Group