Mark Matheny
April 10, 2013
Heritage Foundation President, Jim DeMint appeared on Fox News April 7, 2013 to discuss the serious need to repeal Obamacare.
" All of us who read the bill—what parts of it we could get when they were trying to pass it—knew this was going to happen. We knew it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars more for the government; it would cost individuals and families more; it would replace private-sector insurance—like you said, creating a government monopoly that will eventually push private insurers out. We’ll all end up on Medicaid."
Of course, many supporters of the bill argue that the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare will lower future costs for Medicare and Medicaid spending. One advocate of this unrealistic idea was Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D–WA) ,who, back in February of this year stated at a hearing on the Congressional Budget Office Report,
"As I was reading through the report, one section really got my attention …which was the discussion of the change in health spending in recent years. In fact, I stopped and underlined one statistic because I found it so surprising. The statistic is that CBO has lowered its estimate of federal spending for Medicare and Medicaid to such a degree that spending for 2020—one year is now $200 billion lower than CBO thought back in 2010, an improvement of 15 percent.Yet, contrary to what Mr. Murray was so inaccurately saying, the very next paragraph of the report being read from states quite clearly this The Affordable Care Act will increase future spending:
And let’s be clear, that improvement has occurred since enactment of the Affordable Care Act."
Spending projections also have been affected by legislative action—most not.ably as a result of the Affordable Care Act…. From 2010 to the present, those other types of revisions boosted the estimates of outlays for Medicare and Medicaid in 2020 by $72 billion, or about 5 percent. (The Affordable Care Act also created new subsidies for some people to purchase health insurance through exchanges, adding $115 billion to the estimate for federal outlays for health care programs in 2020, according to CBO’s current projections.) - CBO ReportWhat is misleading about Murray's statement is the fact that although Medicaid and Medicare is expected to decrease in spending in 2020 by $200 billion, according to the report itself, Obamacare will spend an additional $187 billion more than what would have otherwise have been spent without Obamacare.
Looking at it in this light, it is clear to see that any "savings" will be lost through all of the additional spending that Obama's Affordable Care Act will cost.
Republican Senator Richard Burr has doubts that Obamacare will save money. He believes that insurers will face an average 30% increase in payouts for those covered by Obamacare, which could then be passed on to those insured outside of Obamacare.
In a report by the Heritage Foundation called "The Case Against Obamacare: A Health Care Policy Series for the 112th Congress , the foundation shows 15 provisions on why Obamacare needs to be repealed:
Introduction: Repealing Obamacare and Getting Health Care Right by Nina Owcharenko
The new law transfers vast powers to Washington bureaucrats who will control the dollars and decisions that should be in the hands of individual patients and their families.
1. Obamacare and the Individual Mandate: Violating Personal Liberty and Federalism by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.It is clear to see that the "Affordable" Care Act is something America cannot afford.
The individual mandate is an intrusion into personal liberty.
2. Obamacare and New Taxes: Destroying Jobs and the Economy
by Curtis Dubay
Tax increases in the new health care law will impede an already stagnant economic recovery.
3. Obamacare and the Budget: Playing Games with Numbers
by James C. Capretta and Kathryn Nix
An honest accounting of the new health care law’s fiscal impact reveals Obamacare as a trillion-dollar budget buster.
4. Obamacare and the Employer Mandate: Cutting Jobs and Wages
by Brian Blase
The employer mandate will raise the cost of doing business and discourage job growth.
5. Obamacare and Health Subsidies: Expanding Perverse Incentives for Employers and Employees
by Brian Blase and Paul Winfree
Health care exchanges and subsidies in Obamacare further complicate the tax structure and discourage work.
6. Obamacare and Federal Health Exchanges: Undermining State Flexibility
by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
The new law’s concept of health insurance exchanges reduces states to mere agents of federal health policy.
7. Obamacare and Insurance Benefit Mandates: Raising Premiums and Reducing Patient Choice
by Edmund F. Haislmaier
Benefit mandates prescribed by the new health care law will make all health benefits uniform, increase the cost of coverage, and stifle insurance innovation.
8. Obamacare and Insurance Rating Rules: Increasing Costs and Destabilizing Markets
by Edmund F. Haislmaier
The age-rating rules of Obamacare and blanket prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions will destabilize insurance markets.
9. Obamacare and the Hidden Public Option: Crowding Out Private Coverage
by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
Giving the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) power to sponsor national health insurance plans could crowd out private coverage in the health insurance exchanges.
10. Obamacare and Medicare Advantage Cuts: Undermining Seniors’ Coverage Options
by James C. Capretta
The new health care law cuts deeply into Medicare Advantage plans, resulting in substantial reductions in the value of health care services for enrollees.
11. Obamacare and Medicare Provider Cuts: Jeopardizing Seniors’ Access
by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
Using projected Medicare savings to finance new entitlements expansion jeopardizes Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care.
12. Obamacare and the Independent Payment Advisory Board: Falling Short of Real Medicare Reform
by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
The new Medicare board is prohibited by law from making any meaningful reforms.
13. Obamacare and Medicaid: Expanding a Broken Entitlement and Busting State Budgets
by Brian Blase
Instead of reforming Medicaid, the new health care law doubles down on the program’s existing flaws.
14. Obamacare and the CLASS Act: Creating a Long-Term Care Entitlement Burden
by Brian Blase
A new entitlement created by Obamacare, the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) program is actuarially unsound and fiscally irresponsible.
15. Obamacare and the Ethics of Life: Weakening Medical Conscience and the Protection of Life
by Chuck Donovan
The new health care law fails to protect the conscience rights of physicians who refuse to provide or refer patients for abortions… or the conscience rights of taxpayers who refuse to pay for abortions.
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