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Obamacare: Day Three of Senate Finance Committee Hearings

Obamacare: Day Three of Senate Finance Committee Hearings

On Thursday, September 24th, the Senate Finance Committee continued to vote on amendments to the “Chairman’s Mark” of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. As the committee continues to consider more than 500 amendments, it is becoming clear that Senators are directly undercutting the high profile promises that President Obama made to the American people in his widely broadcasted address to Congress on September 9, 2009. Consider several health policy decisions made by members of the Senate Finance Committee:

Cutting Medicare Advantage (Crapo-Kyl-Roberts Amendment D1)

The White House and Congressional leaders routinely insist that they are not going to cut Medicare benefits, only unnecessary spending or spending properly considered to be waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare program. Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and Pat Roberts (R-KS) proposed an amendment to change the Chairman’s mark and remove provisions in Title III, Subtitle D which would result in cuts to Medical Advantage, a program which allows Medicare users to obtain coverage through private insurers. Cuts in payments to Medicare Advantage plans would result in decreased choice and competition for seniors. This amendment failed on a procedural vote (9-9). (more…)

Tags: Barack Obama, Baucus bill, big government, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Medicare trigger, middle class, obama deficit, Obama Health, Obama Health Care Plan, Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees

The Medicare Raid in Baucus Bill

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus’ (D-MT) health care reform proposal includes a number of reforms to reduce Medicare outlays. Medicare, as is now well established, is unsustainable in its current form. Projections of promised benefits far outstrip projections of program receipts, leaving the nation with an unfunded obligation of tens of trillions of dollars. While some of the specific Medicare reforms may be ill-advised, the willingness of the Chairman to propose such changes at this time is encouraging for the future of Medicare.

The Ensign Amendment. Sen. Ensign (R-NV) succeeded in adding a very important amendment to the Baucus proposal during the Finance Committee’s deliberations. The Ensign amendment stated simply that Medicare savings must be used to reduce Medicare’s unfunded obligation. Inclusion of this amendment is an important step toward making Medicare a sustainable, viable program for future generations of seniors. (more…)

Tags: Medicare, Obama Health Care Plan

How the Baucus Bill Kills Jobs

Proponents of the health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress claim that the cost of insuring the uninsured will be paid for by taxes on the rich, and by employers, who will be required to shoulder “responsibility” for their employee’s health insurance. The reality is that these provisions will act as an extremely regressive tax on the working poor, substantially reducing their take-home pay and in some cases eliminating their jobs altogether.

All the House and Senate drafts of health care reform include so-called “employer mandates” or “pay or play” provisions. The details vary somewhat, but all require employers to either “play” by providing health insurance for their employees or pay part of the premium or “pay” a special tax for not providing insurance, even if the employee declines it.

However, (more…)

Tags: Baucus bill, employer mandate, health care employer mandate, HR3200, Max Baucues, Obama Health Care Plan

Obamacare Puts Transparency and Accountability on Death Bed

The New York Times released a new poll today finding that 55% of Americans believe President Obama has not clearly explained his plans for changing the health care system and 59% said they thought the health care changes under consideration in Congress were confusing. In a follow-up interview, Paul Corkery, a Democrat from Somerset, N.J, said: “The Obama administration seems to have a plan, but I’m not understanding the exact details.” Corkery shouldn’t feel that bad. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the independent nonpartisan agency responsible for reviewing legislative initiatives with budgetary implications, has no idea what is in the legislation either. During yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee mark-up, the CBO realized only after the vote, that they had made a $600 million mistake in scoring an amendment by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

The issues that the CBO does not have enough information to analyze are not minor either. In letters released on September 22nd, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf told Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) respectively that his agency simply had not been provided with sufficient legislative language and time to analyze whether insurance premiums would go up under Obamacare or how many unauthorized billions of dollars in health benefits illegal immigrants would receive. (more…)

Tags: CBO, Max Baucus, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Obama Health Care Plan

Towards a Different Kind of Workplace Coverage

New data out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that some 44.9 million Americans of all ages were uninsured in the quarter of January through March. Roughly 63.5 percent of unemployed adults aged 18 to 64 and 21.5 percent of employed adults in the same age group had been uninsured at some point in the past year. The new report highlights a trend in Census data that private coverage is declining while coverage in public health programs is on the rise.

The numbers also underscore what Stuart Butler has called a “catastrophe of small-business health care coverage in America.” Since the majority of Americans get their health coverage through their workplace, increasing costs have pressured more companies to reduce or drop benefits, with most small businesses opting to not cover employees because of the skyrocketing costs. The result — as shown in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s recently released annual survey on employer-sponsored benefits — is a relentless drop in small business coverage. Moreover, employer-sponsored health insurance rose to an average annual rate of $13,375 for family coverage this year. (more…)

Tags: employer mandates, individual mandates, Max Baucus, Obama Health Care Plan