Claim: ObamaCare will mean more coverage for young people because they can now be carried on their parents’ policies until age 26.
Fact: Because of this mandate, many insurance companies have ceased writing policies for young people and children. In Florida, UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children individually. In addition, Aetna, Cigna, WellPoint, Humana and UnitedHealth Group’s Golden Rule subsidiary no longer will sell new child-only policies. Regional insurance companies also will stop issuing such specific, tailored policies. Not only that, but recent announcements by companies that employ teenagers, most notably McDonald’s, that they will drop their employee insurance (unless granted a waiver) because of ObamaCare’s excessive regulations, deprives children of unemployed parents of health care insurance. Ironic, but true. It’s another example of ObamaCare diminishing the choices and competition that bring down costs. – Source: The Daily Caller, Sept. 30, 2010
Claim: ObamaCare will not lead to rationing.
Fact: It may be here sooner than we think. For example, the Food and Drug Administration now is considering cost as a factor in its approval process. The late-stage cancer drug Avastin is a test case. If cost becomes a point for consideration in drug approval, only those who can afford to pay for Avastin, or any drug, will have access to it, because Medicare and private insurance companies will be able, in the case of Avastin, to deny breast cancer patients coverage for this life-extending drug. – Source: The Daily Caller, Sept. 16, 2010
Claim: ObamaCare is not a government takeover of the insurance industry.
Fact: It sure looks like it. For example, the Department of Justice is preparing to sue Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan because its rates are too low! Apparently, the company has done too good a job negotiating with hospitals and other care providers and secured low prices for services that it passes along to its customers. But the Obama administration sees it as increasing the costs for everyone else, even though 2.4 million people in Michigan subscribe to Blue Cross Blue Shield. Now, the Justice Department wants them to pay more. In its way of thinking, it must be unfair they pay less and therefore, must be punished. A successful law suit also will mean no company will be able to negotiate for lower rates, driving up costs and driving individuals into the government-run plan.
– Source: Americans For Limited Government, GetLiberty.org, October 22, 2010
Claim: ObamaCare increases transparency.
Fact: Early this fall, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius warned insurance companies not to spike any communications to customers explaining the relationship between premium and Obamacare’s massive regulations and mandates.
She wrote in a letter to America’s Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance industry’s trade group, that “[T]here will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases.” Instead . . . “Later this fall, we will issue a regulation that will require state or federal review of all potentially unreasonable rate increases filed by health insurers, with the justification for increases posted publicly for consumers and employers.” In other words, no debate, no discussion. We will tell the insurance companies what to say. – Source: Americans For Limited Government, GetLiberty.org, October 22, 2010
Claim: Government created high-risk insurance pools with affordable plans will attract uninsured people with pre-existing conditions.
Fact: As part of ObamaCare, a $5 billion appropriation was made to start a new network of insurance pools for those uninsured with pre-existing conditions. Some in Congress thought more money was needed because of an expected flood of enrollees. However, since the launch of the program during the summer, only 8,011 people have enrolled. New York and Florida have enrolled fewer than 300 and 21 states have enrolled less than 50 each. Meanwhile, that’s $5 billion more in tax money wasted. – Source: New York Times, Nov. 4, 2010
Claim: ObamaCare will lead to medical innovation.
Fact: ObamaCare includes a 2.3 percent tax on medical equipment. The CEO of Zoll Medical Equipment, which makes the life-saving automated external defibrillators, says it will cost his company $7.5 million per year, even though its profit last year was $9.5 million. Most companies creating cutting-edge medical and life-saving technologies are medium- or small-size companies that can’t afford such an impact to their bottom line, thus stifling the innovation that has kept American health care the world’s leader.
– Source: The Heartland Institute/The Galen Institute, Health Care News, Nov. 5, 2010
Claim: If you like your current plan, you can keep it under ObamaCare.
Fact: The federal government’s own draft guidelines indicate that between one-hald and two-thirds of all Americans’ current private plans will lose their protected, or grandfathered, status by 2013. “‘[F]or plans that do not fall under the grandfathered status, employers would have to find a plan that complies with the health care bill.’ More than one million part-time and lower-wage workers are already feeling the squeeze, as popular ‘mini-med’ affordable limited-benefit plans will be banned by the feds starting this fall.” – Source: HotAir.com, Aug. 5, 2010
Claim: ObamaCare will bend the “cost curve down.”
Fact: The government’s own Medicare actuary disagrees! In the first 10 years alone, medical costs will increase $310 billion and health care will represent a larger portion of GDP than current projections. – Source: HotAir.com, Aug. 5, 2010
Claim: ObamaCare will not lead to a doctor shortage.
Fact: According to the Associated Press, the “landmark health care overhaul…promises extra strain” on the shrinking numbers of primary care physicians. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates a shortage of 160,000 doctors within 15 years, and the Wall Street Journal reported that medical schools “can’t keep up.” It will also further cramp emergency rooms and hospitals. Regulating what doctors make and the types of procedures they can perform will not attract the best and brightest to the profession.
– Source: HotAir.com, Aug. 5, 2010
Claim: ObamaCare will help small business and the self-employed.
Fact: Small businesses and the self-employed will get hit with large new taxes and regulatory burdens. For example, a 1099 form must be filed with everyone from whom they pay $600 or more in a year for a good or service. That means unprecedented record keeping of purchases from every store and vendor, including office supply stores for everyday items such as paper clips or ink cartridges. – Source: HotAir.com, Aug. 5, 2010
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