Discredited ‘public option’ will fail
For middle-class families with Obamacare, summer 2016 was plagued with headline headscratchers as they learned costs would be going up and choices would be going down.
Today, as the fourth enrollment season nears, the news is not getting any better. And despite repeated promises from
This dire reality is Obamacare's past, present and future; and it is rooted in the law's fundamental failure to tackle costs and embrace the competition and transparency principles that
Yet, despite the maze of federal rules, taxes and penalties Obamacare created for the private health insurance market,
But what they forget is why this idea was not included in their original plan: it simply doesn't work.
In a health system that values innovation, choice, first rate care and groundbreaking treatments for patients, market forces must be at play to drive efficiency and effectiveness from not only hospitals and doctors, but insurers as well.
A government-run plan counters these pillars of our system and instead only perpetuates more of Obamacare's failed policies that have stifled competition and hiked prices for American families.
Consider that last year, 19 of 37 states on HealthCare.gov saw double-digit premium increases for the second-lowest cost silver plan, with three of these states seeing benchmark rates go up 30 percent.
While premiums spiked, competition was driven out. Obamacare's policies forced insurers to leave the failed exchanges, with 70% of carriers experiencing financial losses that rendered some of them unable to stay in business for their patients.
Now, roughly 974 counties and nearly two million Americans across the country may be left with only one insurance plan on the exchange.
If Obamacare's knot of federal mandates and new programs has not cut costs and improved competition, how can
In practice, a government-run plan would dictate prices to doctors and hospitals which would, in turn, cause health providers to be unable to participate in the program. It would do nothing to control costs, and instead would leave patients to pay for extra services that are not deemed essential by
Like Obamacare, a government-run plan would drive private insurers out of business. This time, by setting artificially low prices that ultimately would leave federal taxpayers to foot the bill when claims exceed below-market costs.
Proponents of the government-run plan need only to look to the very law they once celebrated to see how the public option would fare in practice. That inconvenient truth lies in section 1322 of Obamacare, where the law's policies for the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) are spelled out. At the time, CO-OPS were viewed to be an alternative to the public plan option, since there was resistance to supporting it, even among
Fast forward to today, and tens of thousands of Americans have lost their health insurance coverage from failing CO-OPs and taxpayers have footed the
It's undeniable that Obamacare is failing -- it is driving up costs and reducing choice and access in many markets. What we need right now is more bold solutions that promote patient-focused reforms aimed to reduce healthcare costs and increase access to affordable, high-quality care. Such are central tenants of our Patient CARE Act and many other like-minded proposals from House and
Sen.
Read this original document at: http://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/discredited-public-option-will-fail
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