With the Republican-led House of Representatives on Wednesday forcing a repeal vote on the Affordable Care Act passed into law back in March of 2010, the White House released the latest in its White House White Board series, this time focusing on the cost savings benefits and the economic benefits of health care reform.
In the presentation, Stephanie Cutter, Assistant to the President on the implementation of the health care law, discussed the significant savings in the cost of premiums for a family of four by 2014 dependent upon income under health care reform as well as the skyrocketing cost of health care premiums should the Republicans in Congress succeed in repeal.
According to Cutter, primary reasons for a reduction in premium costs under the Affordable Care Act include:
- The cost of uncompensated care will be dramatically reduced under the reform law
- The creation of new exchanges which will allow “millions of Americans to pull together, compare prices, and get the best bargain.”
- The recently enacted medical loss ratio rule will force at least 80% of health care premium payments to go towards medical costs rather than to administrative costs, advertising, salaries and bonuses
- The strengthening of premium review laws on the state level will prevent insurance companies from raising rates without justification
- Tax credits to reduce the cost of health care for families and individuals who otherwise could not afford coverage
In addition, Cutter discussed the dramatic drop in health care costs for businesses after full implementation of the reform law (up to $3,000 in savings per employee by 2019) as well as the staggering number of jobs (up to a total of 4 million jobs by 2019) which could be lost as a result of the GOP plan to repeal or to purposely under fund the health care reform law.
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