Health Reform: Where are we now?

Greater WashingtonAssociation of Health Underwriters

January 11, 2012

Grace-Marie TurnerGalen Institute

Overwhelming majorities say ObamaCare will increase taxes, the federal deficit, premiums,

health care costs, and decrease quality of care

AM&A | Resurgent Republic 1st Anniversary Survey of Likely Voters | April 25-27, 2010

TaxesFederal Deficit

Health care CostsInsurance PremiumsHealth Care Quality

Do you think the health care reform plan that Congress passed recently will increase, decrease, or have no effect on each of the following:

What the president will tell you ObamaCare does

–“Free” preventive care–Allowing “children” up to age 26 on

parent’s policies–No annual or lifetime limits on coverage–Pools for pre-existing condition policies–$250 for seniors with high drug costs– Insurance regulations and mandates

What ObamaCare does

◄Significant new federal control over health insurance and medical practice

◄At least 159 new programs and agencies ◄Mandates on citizens, employers, & states

◄$552 billion in new taxes and penalties◄$575 billion from Medicare

People are confused22% - Think the law has been repealed *26% - Are unsureJust over half (52%) know ObamaCare still stands

14% - Believe they have benefited from the law17% - Already have been harmed45% - Fear it will make the economy worse

56% - Favor full repeal of the lawSource: “Kaiser Health Tracking Poll – February 2011,” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, February 24, 2011, www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/8156.cfm.

ObamaCare Is Less Popular Than Ever• Overall favorability -- 34%, an all-time low• “Very favorable” support -- 12%• People who think they personally will be

better off --18% • The country as a whole will be better off

-- 28% • Approval of the law among Democrats

dropped by 13% to only 52%

Source: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, Kaiser Family Foundation, October 2011, http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/8251.cfm.

Widespread pushbackVery real consequences – Killing jobs, especially decimating the insurance broker community – 40% of doctors plan to leave practice Resistance from states – Lawsuits to block individual mandate, resist Medicaid expansion– Balking at setting up exchanges or otherwise complying

Impossible complexity– CLASS Act collapse– Enormous bureaucracy, benefit mandates, privacy issues– 10,000 pages of regulations -- so far

Medical Practice Ownership

“When the Doctor Has a Boss. More Physicians Are Going to Work for Hospitals Rather Than Hanging a Shingle” By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS. The Wall Street Journal Nov. 8, 2010

“The mandate was a mistake”“Democrats managed to get themselves the

worst possible result: a law that enflames the opposition on the basis of overreaching federal power but may not work in practice because there is no real power behind it.

Whether or not the Court strikes it down, the individual mandate has been one of the most serious political and policy mistakes of recent decades.”

Princeton Professor (and Obamacare advisor) Paul Starr, “The Health Care Mandate Really Was a Mistake,” January 2, 2012. The New Republic. http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/99072/the-health-care-mandate-really-was-mistake

Studies show law fails to meet goals

Health costs and health spending increaseOne-third of businesses may drop insuranceYoung people worried about high cost of policiesDoctors concerned about Medicaid expansion and fraying the safety netSeniors are concerned about access to care through Medicare and Medicare AdvantageTens of millions remain uninsured

“If you like your health insurance…”COVERAGE

51 to 80% of Americans will lose current coverage, according to Obama admin. estimates

Up to 80 million will be forced to change policies30-40 million insured will drop coverage

Child-only policies vanish in 19 states

35 million more will move from job-based insurance to taxpayer-subsidized exchanges

What happened to cost controls?

Insurance premiums rising 9% to $15,000yr (family employer plan)

Rick Foster: “False more so than true” that law will lower costs for taxpayers

Actual cost of the law, $2.4 trillion – and counting

Democratic pollster Pat Caddell said: “The economy, as important as it was, was not the decisive factor this election. Health care was,” he said.

“It is...health care [that] killed them,” Caddell said of the 63 defeated House Democrats.

“The American people found this a crime against democracy... they want it repealed, and this issue is gonna go on and on.”

2010 Political Realities

Changes are inevitableLegislation: Defunding, dismantling

Regulatory: Strict congressional oversight

Legal: Supreme Court decision in 2012

Political: Election referendum

What we know for sureCHOICE Americans value innovation, diversity and choice to accommodate different needs of 300 million peopleFOCUS ON THE PATIENT They want doctors and patients, not government, to make health care decisionsVALUE IN HEALTH SPENDING To realize the promise of personalized medicine and achieve overall cost saving, we must allow more choice and competition

Other nations move toward change

ConsumerismValue private

enterprise and competition

Doctor/patient relationship

Decentralized decision-making

The future?The global move toward consumerism is real, driven by greater patient demand for more control over decisions.

Health overhaul is law and will fundamentally change the U.S. health sector. But I believe it will be repealed by Congress, struck down the courts, or amended significantly before 2014

Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America

How does the new health care law drive up costs?

Is your doctor really in charge of your health care decisions?

Are your Constitutional rights threatened?

Discover the law’s impact on your life in a new book from four nationally recognized health policy experts

Published by Broadside Books, an imprint of HarperCollins www.WrongForAmericaBook.com

Contact:

Grace-Marie TurnerGalen Institutewww.galen.org(703) 299-8900gracemarie@galen.org