Clarity About HC

“The Affordable Care Act established a federally funded risk pool-the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan-that allows individuals with such disqualifying conditions to buy a policy for the same premium a healthy person would pay. About 82,000 people have signed up as of July 31, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's statehealthfacts.org.  That is not a misprint. Out of a population of more than 300 million, some 82,000 have the problem that was cited as the principal reason for spending $1.8 trillion over the next 10 years and in the process turning the entire health-care system upside down.”  

“In 2003, Congress passed a Medicare drug benefit, largely out of concern that senior citizens couldn't afford the coverage themselves. Since the new program (Medicare Part D) had no funding source, Congress created a $15.6 trillion unfunded liability for the federal government, looking indefinitely into the future-more than the unfunded liability in Social Security.”

“Yet economist Andrew Rettenmaier discovered that only 7 percent of the benefits actually bought new drugs for seniors. The other 93 percent simply transferred to government (and taxpayers) the bill for drugs the elderly or their insurers were already buying.

“Only one in every thirteen dollars represented a new drug purchase. Interestingly, the help given to the small number of people who were not otherwise getting medications actually reduced Medicare's spending, as drugs were substituted for more expensive doctor and hospital therapies.

“But this profit on the truly needy was overwhelmed by the cost of giving the benefit to those who didn't need it-a cost that has created an enormous obligation for current and future taxpayers. “

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=3474