Obama Administration Admits PelosiCare Increases Costs

On Saturday, November 14, House Ways and Means Member Dave Camp (R-Mich.) released a report that he received from the nonpartisan, independent experts at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  Among other things, the analysis revealed that under Speaker Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) proposed takeover of the American health care system, health care costs will rise and care for seniors will be reduced.  Upon releasing the report, Rep. Camp stated:

This report confirms what virtually every independent expert has been saying: Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill will increase costs, not decrease them.  This is a stark warning to every Republican, Democrat and Independent worried about the financial future of this nation.  I hope my colleagues in the Senate heed CMS’ findings and refuse to rush ahead until any bill under consideration can be certified to actually reduce health care costs.

A summary of the analysis brought forth by the House Republican Ways and Means Committee shows that: 

• Costs Increase:  “In aggregate, we estimate that for calendar years 2010 through 2019 [national health expenditures] would increase by $289 billion.” [Page 12] 


• Savings Provisions are Ineffective:  “Most of the provisions of H.R. 3962 that were designed, in part, to reduce the rate of growth in health care costs would have a relatively small savings impact.” [Page 3]  


• Seniors’ Care will be Jeopardized:  The Democrats’ bill would cut Medicare by more than one-half trillion dollars ($571 billion), resulting in doctors and other health providers finding “it difficult to remain profitable and might end their participation in the program (possibly jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries).” [Page 8]


• Employees May Lose the Coverage They Have:  “[S]ome smaller employers would be inclined to terminate their existing coverage, and companies with low average salaries might find it to their—and their employees’—advantage to end their plans” [Page 7]  


• There Will Be a Massive Entitlement Expansion:  Under the House Democrats’ bill, “about three-fifths” or 60 percent of the uninsured who gain coverage would do so by being dumped into Medicaid.  [Page 6]  


• The Bill Will Lead to a Shortage of Doctors and Hospitals:  In stating that “consideration should be given to the potential consequences of a significant increase in demand for health care meeting a relatively fixed supply of health care providers and services,” CMS warns that those in need of care may face long wait lines if the House Democrat bill was enacted. [Page 15]

Now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is proposing to bring the cost-raising, Medicare cutting, trillion dollar spending, 1,990 Pelosi Bill before a vote in the Senate.  Let’s just hope that Senate Democrats have enough common sense to say no to a bill that does the exact opposite of what it promises by raising the cost of health care for American families.