CBO says that Obamcare sucks, progressives celebrate low cost

[Quantum Windbag]

Perhaps you have come across a progressive idiot trumpeting the fact that the CBO has said that Obamacare will cost less than expected. The part they don't mention is why it will cost less.

A crucial factor in the current revision was an analysis of the characteristics of plans offered through the exchanges in 2014. Previously, CBO and JTC had expected that those plans’ characteristics would closely resemble the characteristics of employment-based plans throughout the projection period. However, the plans being offered through the exchanges this year appear to have, in general, lower payment rates for providers, narrower networks of providers, and tighter management of their subscribers’ use of health care than employment-based plans do.

…

The lower exchange premiums and revisions to the other characteristics of insurance plans that are incorporated into CBO and JCT’s current estimates have small effects on the agencies’ projections of exchange enrollment. Although lower premiums will tend to increase enrollment, narrower networks and more tightly managed benefits will tend to reduce the attractiveness of plans and thereby decrease enrollment. The net effect on projected enrollment in the exchanges is small.

http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/45231-ACA_Estimates.pdf

In other words, the policies have limited networks and more hoops to jump through to get the benefits that are offered. This will result in fewer choices for the people that get stuck with the plans, but all is good because they get to claim that the fact that the costs will go up slightly slower than expected proves they were right all along.

 

[Moonglow]

As health care costs continue their steady climb, employers are looking for ways to slow the pace. A survey of large employers released on Thursday showed that companies were shifting more costs onto their employees but were also experimenting with concepts like private exchanges that allow companies like Walgreen to offer their workers more choices in health care plans.

The average annual cost of coverage for both employers and workers increased to $12,535 in 2014, compared with $11,938 last year, according to the survey of 595 large companies by Towers Watson, a benefits consultant, and the National Business Group on Health, a Washington-based employer alliance. Employees are paying almost a quarter of the amount, now $2,975 a year, up nearly 7 percent from 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/b...hanges-to-control-health-care-costs.html?_r=0

 

[emilynghiem]

As health care costs continue their steady climb, employers are looking for ways to slow the pace. A survey of large employers released on Thursday showed that companies were shifting more costs onto their employees but were also experimenting with concepts like private exchanges that allow companies like Walgreen to offer their workers more choices in health care plans.

The average annual cost of coverage for both employers and workers increased to $12,535 in 2014, compared with $11,938 last year, according to the survey of 595 large companies by Towers Watson, a benefits consultant, and the National Business Group on Health, a Washington-based employer alliance. Employees are paying almost a quarter of the amount, now $2,975 a year, up nearly 7 percent from 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/b...hanges-to-control-health-care-costs.html?_r=0

And how much of these extra costs are going to INSURANCE COMPANIES
as opposed to investing our money directly into HEALTH CARE services,
facilities and providers???

WHY are we being forced to pay INSURANCE COMPANIES.

WHY don't we have equal choice to invest in HEALTH CARE PROGRAMS directly?

 

[Dot Com]

CBO: Affordable Care Act getting even more affordable | MSNBC

The most expensive provisions of Obamacare will cost taxpayers about $100 billion less than expected, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday.

The report found that coverage is likely to cost less thanks to premiums being lower than expected through the exchange marketplaces. In other words, take pretty much everything you’ve heard from congressional Republicans lately and believe the opposite.