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03-22-2010, 04:53 PM #1
Health Reform's Winners And Losers
Health Reform's Winners And Losers
WINNERS
The Uninsured: According to the Congressional Budget Office, 94% of all non-elderly Americans will have access to health insurance by 2016, vs. 83% now. Health insurers won't be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. People who elect not to get insurance will have to pay a penalty of $695 per year or 2.5% of income (phased in before 2016)...
...Private Insurers: Their biggest nightmare was long ago removed from the legislation: a government-run plan to compete with private companies. Better yet, health insurers get 32 million new taxpayer-subsidized customers. In essence, it's a big Cash for Clunkers program for HMOs...
...Drug and Biotech Companies: Drug companies like Merck ( MRK - news - people ), Pfizer ( PFE - news - people ) and Amgen ( AMGN - news - people ) are among the biggest industry winners in the legislation. They suddenly will have tens of millions more insured customers who can afford their expensive medicines...
...Seniors Who Need Prescription Drugs: The bill closes the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D plans...
...Trial Lawyers/Litigious Patients: The bill has nothing in it that might lead to medical tort reform. By some estimates, billions of dollars in unnecessary lab tests and imaging studies are done every year by doctors who fear lawsuits. Moreover, expected challenges to health care reform, such as efforts in Virginia and Idaho to prevent the U.S. government from forcing citizens to obtain health insurance, could be a boon for lawyers...
...Medicaid Recipients: The bill expands eligibility for Medicaid as part of its coverage mechanism. It also increases Medicaid reimbursements, which will make it easier for patients on Medicaid to find doctors who take their insurance.
Labor Unions, Goldman Sachs ( GS - news - people ) Execs (and anyone else with gold-plated health benefits): The Senate bill's excise tax on high-cost insurance plans, which unions objected to during the legislative process was gutted. Now it kicks in at a higher cost level than originally conceived ($27,500 vs. $23,000 for family coverage) and in 2018. This means there's plenty of time for maneuvering to make sure it never takes effect.
LOSERS
The Insured: If you already have good insurance, the bill will probably drive up your premiums. This is especially true if you buy your own insurance but don't qualify for any of the new subsidies. A family in California that buys its own insurance but makes more than the $88,000 cut-off for subsidies will be hit with a double-digit increase in the cost of coverage, above and beyond inflation.
But even if you get your insurance at work you'll have to indirectly cover the new taxes on medical providers. Also, it's likely that those who have private insurance will face higher rates from hospitals, doctors and medical testing labs as providers try to make up for increased numbers of low-paying Medicaid customers. There are too many factors here to make detailed predictions, but if you have insurance, get ready to open your wallet...
...Doctors: Doctors wanted two things from health reform: tort reform and a fix to the Medicare payment formula that automatically cuts reimbursements each year. They got neither...
...The Wealthy: To help pay for the bill, there's a 0.9% increase in Medicare payroll taxes for people who earn more than $200,000 annually ($250,000 for couples). In addition, those earners would be subject to a new tax of 3.8% on investment income like dividends and capital gains beginning in 2013...
...Banks: Banks are affected adversely by health care reform, believe it or not. The reconciliation bill includes an amendment that scraps government funding or guarantees for the Federal Family Education Loan Program after June 30 of this year. FFEL loans, offered by private lenders, are subsidized and guaranteed by Uncle Sam. The move places greater emphasis on the government's Direct Loan program, where student aid is offered through the Department of Education.
I wonder if people realized the evil insurance companies were actually going to make out like bandits from this. And the bigger, more evil ones even more so...the smaller companies will be forced to consolidate, merge, and/or sellout to the larger companies to cope with rising costs of business. More "big, evil" insurance companies will be formed and they'll control all of the insurance market. The major benefactors include insurance companies, drug companies, and trial lawyers and those of us who have been responsibly paying for their own insurance for years get the shaft.
Basically, 11% of non-elderly Americans (the uninsured who will now be covered) will benefit at the expense of everyone else.
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03-22-2010, 10:06 PM #2
This is how it's appearing to me right now as well. I notice the pre-existing conditions portion doesn't even kick in for adults until 2014, so for those rarities like me who have conditions like the unpreventable and uncommon form of type 1 diabetes, I have to wait four years before I see any real, notable changes.
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03-22-2010, 10:39 PM #3
True, and that's a point that's glossed over. The only reason the CBO estimates didn't show the program running a deficit through 2019 is because it doesn't actually start until 2014...the estimated cost of the first four years combined is $17 billion, then shoots up to $54 billion in 2014, $104b in 2015, and so on up to $216b in 2019. If these estimates showed the true costs of a ten year period under the plan, it would greatly add to the deficit. Basically, they're counting six years as a decade estimate.
But you know what will start almost immediately? The taxes and cost increases...naturally.
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03-23-2010, 03:25 AM #4BANNED
Lets simplify all the crud
WINNERS : Insurance Companies
LOSERS : The American Public
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03-23-2010, 07:21 AM #5
Actually it will be lower because there are 1-3% that don't want and wont purchase the insurance.
Another one of the losers in Medical Device makers, al LOT of which are here in Massachusetts. There will be many jobs lost because of this bill here in Mass yet all but one of the brain dead morons voted for it. Way to protect your people idiots
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03-23-2010, 10:04 AM #6
Very true...but our government knows best, so they'll have to pay at least $695 for their choice.
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Originally Posted by OnePimpTiger 
