ObamaCare at Any Cost

Will you change your insurance if your new insurance cost more? You may have to pay more if the health care bill is passed. The Wall Street Journal Editorial reports.

Consider how Washington received the Congressional Budget Office's study Monday of how Harry Reid's Senate bill will affect insurance costs, which by any rational measure ought to have been a disaster for the bill. CBO found that premiums in the individual market will rise by 10% to 13% more than if Congress did nothing. Family policies under the status quo are projected to cost $13,100 on average, but under ObamaCare will jump to $15,200.

CBO is confirming that new coverage mandates will drive premiums higher. The bill will increase costs but it will then disguise those costs by transferring them to taxpayers from individuals. Higher costs can be conjured away because they're suddenly on the government balance sheet. The Reid bill's $371.9 billion in new health taxes are also apparently not a new cost because they can be passed along to consumers, or perhaps will be hidden in lost wages.

In a 2008 paper in the peer-reviewed Forum for Health Economics and Policy, these economists found that state community rating laws raise premiums in the individual market by 20.9% to 33.1% for families and 10.2% to 17.1% for singles. In New Jersey, which also requires insurers to accept all comers (so-called guaranteed issue), premiums increased by as much as 227%.

Was the health care reform supposed to help those who can't afford to pay health insurance? Reform is defined as making changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices, but what they are trying to do will make it worse. If this health care bill passes, we will pay more for health insurance and have fewer choice, and possible rationing, for health services. The government is abusing their power and if you don't call that injustice, what is injustice?

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare at Any Cost