RSS
Home
Insurance industry fails fact check
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The Washington Post fact checks two reports sponsored by the insurance industry that predict up to $4,000 per year could be added to premiums if healthcare reform is enacted. The WP fact checkers say the estimates are inaccurate and misleading. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/factchecker15.html?hpid=topnews)"
2. New Regulations on Insurance Plans
Analysis: There is no question that consumers in loosely regulated states now buy bare-bones policies that would not meet the new standards. But the reports underestimate the pricing power that individuals without employer-based coverage and small businesses would enjoy as a result of being pooled together for coverage, instead of buying on their own in highly uncompetitive markets, as they do today. In addition, small businesses already enjoy protection against denial of coverage, so that rule would not represent a change for them.
3. Soaring Cost in Particular States
Analysis: The bill would affect some states more than others, but consumers in those states could find that, as premiums for some go up, many others' would decline. The reason: Lightly regulated states also tend to have higher rates of uninsured and underinsured people, which leads to more people going to the emergency room and higher premiums for those who are insured. Requiring insurance for all may reduce those costs, creating a downward pressure on premiums.
4. New Tax on Costly Employer-Based Plans
Analysis: The report overlooks the likelihood that insurers, employers and employees would shift to less costly plans to avoid the tax. This would happen to such an extent, congressional auditors predict, that much of the new tax revenue would actually come in the form of income taxes -- on the higher wages that employers would give in the place of top-shelf health benefits. The report's authors themselves note that a shift to less costly plans would likely occur, but say that they would nonetheless base their estimate on the tax being fully applied.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
