Tuesday, December 28, 2010
WaPo suddenly discovers ObamaCare costs more, helps fewer than predicted
...Er, that’s a rather strange understatement. The announced expectations was that it would attract 375,000 people by the end of the year. It has only 8,000 enrollees, which means it missed its mark by 97.9%. If any other major and controversial government program missed its delivery goals by 97.9%, would the Post report it in such anodyne terms? For instance, if 97.9% of a military-weapons system failed to get delivered on time, how would the Post report that? I doubt that the opening paragraph would be that “the Pentagon didn’t get as many artillery weapons as expected.”...
...It’s important to remember that the $5 billion allocated to PECIP was based on … nothing at all. Congress had no real evaluation of cost; they picked a number to get the bill passed while pretending that it wouldn’t increase deficits. The Medicare actuaries predicted that the $5 billion, which was supposed to float PECIP for five years, would run out at the end of one. HHS admitted that they had no idea how much PECIP would cost. And instead of acting as a buffer for those turned down by insurance companies for their pre-existing conditions, the government might have to act just like an insurer by keeping sick people out of the pool....
Health plans for high-risk patients attracting fewer, costing more than expected
An early feature of the new health-care law that allows people who are already sick to get insurance to cover their medical costs isn't attracting as many customers as expected.
In the meantime, in at least a few states, claims for medical care covered by the "high-risk pools" are proving very costly, and it is an open question whether the $5 billion allotted by Congress to start up the plans will be sufficient. ...
...Twenty-seven states have created their own high-risk pools. The rest used an option in the law to let their residents buy coverage through a new federal health plan.
In the spring, the Medicare program's chief actuary predicted that 375,000 people would sign up for the pool plans by the end of the year. Early last month, the Health and Human Services Department reported that just 8,000 people had enrolled. HHS officials declined to provide an update, although they collect such figures monthly, because they have decided to report them on a quarterly basis. ...
HHS falls short of pre-existing coverage prediction by … 97.8%
255 million: The number of Americans with existing health insurance coverage.
20 million: The number of Americans without any health coverage at all due to economic circumstances.
375,000: The number of Americans with pre-existing conditions HHS said would apply for coverage in the first year of ObamaCare, one of the main political arguments for its implementation.
8,011: The number that actually did....
