During the solemn and tranquil debate over insurance companies and the public option, the flesh behind the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 was often overlooked. Now a report by the economists at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reveals some surprising pluses over the next few years stemming from the new law. It mentions a coverage rate of 93% by 2014, diminishing out-of-pocket payments by patients, better than expected savings due to inefficiency elimination, and all this with increases in national health expenditure that cannot be viewed as significant.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...
The article notes that the law is projected to outperform initial expectations.
The report found that the new law will provide some notable savings. For example, annual spending growth for Medicare will be an average of 1.4 percent slower each year through 2019, the report found. This is due mainly to more than 150 cost-cutting measures that the law implements, such as cuts in payments to Medicare managed-care plans. These plans long have been overpaid for their services by an average of 14 percent.
Nancy-Ann DeParle, the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said in a blog post Thursday morning that the report proves that the new law is cutting costs. She cited the projected per-capita health spending average of $14,720 in 2019 as proof. The earlier estimate was $16,120.
"This is great news for the millions of individuals and families who have struggled with the high cost of coverage," DeParle wrote. "More good news for American consumers: The actuary predicts out-of-pocket spending on health care services per person will decline an average of 6 percent to $1,310, a savings of $80 per person per year."
The bottom line:
"In the aggregate, it appears that the affordable care act will have a moderate effect on health spending growth rates and the health care share of the economy," said Andrea Sisko, a CMS economist and the lead author of the study on long-term health costs.
However, the year-to-year changes in coverage that the new law presents will be significant.
All in all, 93% of Americans will be insured, with "moderate effect on ... the health care share of the economy." In addition, "The report expects nearly 16 million people to get insurance when the exchanges open in 2014 and nearly 31 million by 2019." These people will be part of an insurance pool and benefit from the cushy insurance currently enjoyed by federal employees, union workers, and corporate employees.
It may not be public, but it is a drastically different scenario from the horrors of the individual coverage plans we have so much discussed. In my personal case, I am insured by the evilest of the evilest, but in the past few months, when my hospitalization bills rose above $300K, I paid $200.oo out of pocket, and my four thousand dollar a month prescriptions get filled. Had I had individual insurance with the very same corporation, I doubt my coverage would have been that solid. My pharmacists often tell me I must have very good insurance, to which I respond, "No, I just have insurance with a large group." It makes the difference between life and death for me now, and it will do the same to those who join the exchanges. The report also goes on to say that most Americans will end up in these exchanges over time.
There is much in this health care law that deserves more credit than it has received. People have learned to hate the whole, but they would never relinquish its parts whenever asked. So Democrats should reconsider shying away from it as an accomplishment.