“The new health care law specifically targets reimbursement for new drugs and devices as a way to save money in programs like Medicare and Medicaid. These savings, in turn, are used to pay for new health coverage for the uninsured. But the legislation doesn’t take down drug and medical device prices directly. Rather, it creates a series of new agencies, boards, and authorities that separately will be empowered to construct new rules to impact how medical products are priced, as well as to restrict their use by defining when and if products are covered by insurance.”
ObamaCare is so politically radioactive, even Democratic Congressmen are recoiling from it. “Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) said this week that Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) handling of healthcare reform was the last straw influencing his decision to oppose her as speaker if the Democrats keep control of the House. “
ObamaCare’s deficit reductions are unlikely to pan out, and the tax hikes will be worse than anticipated when you account for their economic effects. “Indeed, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is chock full of tax hikes. And those taxes will cost more than you might think.”
“According to the Kaiser Family Foundation October Tracking Poll out Monday morning, overall support for the law has dropped to 42 percent – down seven points in a month. The percentage of those saying they have an unfavorable view of the bill rose four points to 44 percent.”
The Washington Post performed a “fact check” on claims about the new health law. Many of their conclusions were less than factually based.
“We investigated what would happen to the estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the official scorekeeping arm of Congress charged with analyzing the budget implications of legislative proposals, if different assumptions were made about how the health overhaul will work.”
“Right now we’re estimating the cost of the minimum benefit package that everyone will be required to have at $4,750 for individuals and $12,250 for families… That translates into a minimum health benefit of $2.28 an hour for full time workers (individual coverage) and $5.89 an hour (family coverage) for fulltime employees.”
“Public support for healthcare reform ticked downward in October, suffering from an especially negative opinion among likely voters. Almost half of likely voters in next month’s elections said they have an unfavorable view of Democrats’ signature legislation — a more negative take on healthcare reform than the general public.”
“The president’s health-reform law is almost seven months old, and it’s already threatening thousands of Americans’ ability to access affordable health insurance.”
“The health legislation doesn’t call on government tribunals to euthanize seniors, as some fanciful critics claim, but the bill does kill off private-practice medicine. ObamaCare envisions that doctors will fold their private offices to become salaried hospital employees, making it easier for the federal government to regulate them and centrally manage the costly medical services they prescribe. To get this control, ObamaCare creates ‘Accountable Care Organizations,’ which are basically hospitals coupled with local doctor networks that the hospital owns.”