Obamacare Keeps Getting Better and Better
By Michele Petrovsky
Despite the best (worst?) efforts of Paul Ryan and his uber-conservative colleagues, the prospects for the success of the Affordable Care Act keep getting better and better.
A study released within the past few days by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reduces the Act's costs over the next 10 years by more than $100 billion.
The CBO projects that subsidies to Obamacare would require $164 billion less than had been thought a few weeks ago. Several metrics have served as input to this more optimistic forecast. Premiums, especially early on, are slated to be lower than previously projected: At one point, CBO estimated that premiums would rise on average by about $100 in 2015. Now the Office still thinks these costs will go up, but much more slowly than had been imagined.
Here’s a laundry list of what contributes to the CBO’s estimate:
- a healthier enrollment population in 2015
- a smaller under-65 population
- rising medical costs
- the make-up of the Obamacare plans, with narrower provider networks and lower provider payments than their counterparts in the large-group market
All told, the law is projected to cost $104 billion less over 10 years than CBO's February 2014 estimate. Couple that with the fact that enrollment exceeded any expectations, coming in at a whopping 7.5 million. It looks like the Affordable Care Act is going to join Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in the pantheon of legislation far-righties love to hate.
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Michele Petrovsky is the Webmaster at Tools4Change, Author of “Cathedral or Bazaar? Fix Higher Education – Teach by the Seat of Your Pants ,” “Donkey Dharma,” and “Quick Guide to Linux.” Petrovsky resides in Glen Mills, Pa.
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