ANOTHER FAILED OBAMACARE PROMISE FROM HEIDI HEITKAMP
Just one day after Heidi Heitkamp told North Dakota voters that her main concern is lowering the cost of health care and two short years after she called ObamaCare a “legacy vote” that would make it more affordable for small businesses to offer healthcare to employees, a new report today from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reveals that the price of healthcare continues to increase.
Since the healthcare bill has been signed into law, costs have risen by 9 percent and the average premium has risen by $1,300. They could rise as much as $2,500 according to today’s CBO report.
As the CBO reports:
The additional enrollees [i.e., those previously projected to enroll in Medicaid, but who will now receive Exchange subsidies in light of the Court’s ruling] are likely to spend more on health care, on average, than those previously expected to purchase insurance through the exchanges because people with lower income generally have somewhat poorer health. As a result, CBO and JCT now estimate that the premiums for health insurance offered through the exchanges, along with premiums in the individual market, will be 2 percent higher than those estimated in March 2012.
Interestingly, while saying she wouldn’t vote to repeal ObamaCare, Heitkamp just yesterday told Valley News Live that her main concern was lowering the cost of health care.
Notably, the total cost of the healthcare bill has risen from $940 billion to nearly $1.75 trillion.
“Heidi Heitkamp promised ObamaCare would lower the cost of healthcare, but today North Dakotans are paying more money than ever,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Lance Trover. “Between the job-killing taxes and the raiding of Medicare funds, it’s clear Heidi Heitkamp misled, and continues to mislead, people about the true effects of her government-run healthcare plan.”
BACKGROUND …
Heidi Heitkamp Promised ObamaCare Would Lower Healthcare Costs
Heitkamp Said The Health Care Law Was Going To Make It More Affordable For Small Businesses To Offer Health Care To Their Employees. Heitkamp: “On behalf of all the small businesspeople who would dearly love to get their people – their employees – health insurance, but they can’t afford it. The number one reason, if you look at North Dakota’s report on premiums, it is by and far the number one reason why employers do not cover employees – because of cost. We are going to make – this bill is going to make that benefit affordable for those small businesspeople. And so I want, on behalf of those small businesspeople to thank Senator Conrad.” (Heidi Heitkamp, Health Care Rally, Fargo, ND, 4/1/10)
Meanwhile Healthcare Costs Across The Country Continue To Rise
BLOOMBERG: “The average cost of a family policy climbed 9 percent in 2011 to $15,073, according to a poll of 2,088 private companies and state and local government agencies by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California, and the Chicago- based American Hospital Association’s Health Research and Educational Trust.” (Jeffrey Young, “Health-Benefit Costs Rise Most In Six Years,” Bloomberg, 9/27/11)
WALL STREET JOURNAL: “[In 2011], the health-insurance premiums employers pay rose sharply this year, with the average annual cost of family coverage passing the $15,000 mark for the first time, according to a major survey.” (“Employer Health Premiums Rise Sharply,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/11)
WALL STREET JOURNAL: “The average annual family premium for 2011 was $15,073, up from $13,770 last year.” (“Employer Health Premiums Rise Sharply,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/11)
