Obama Details Plan to Expand Health Care to Uninsured
From: NY Times
Obama Health Plan Costs $950 Billion Over 10 Years From: WSJ
Finally, ObamaCare Arrives From: The Atlantic
From: Whitehouse.gov
Now, if you put it all together, Obamacare is going to spend $950 billion to extend care to the uninsured, but in a way that helps people take control of their own healthcare. Still, after reading the three articles I have no clue how this proposal is going to affect me, or how it will provide healthcare to the uninsured--the only two aspects I care about. So I started a search.
I found how it is going to affect me pretty easily:
Currently, UCB mandates that I have health insurance. They sold it to me for $1500 (and then paid for it in a back-handed way; but for the sake of argument, let's say I paid for it). That would put the cost around the $40,000 income range, which is above what most students earn. So I would get a tax credit.
The chart makes it pretty easy to predict changes for most people who already have insurance, at least in the short term. Many of the long-term cost saving measures like the health insurance exchange and technology developments are going to be negotiated and implemented by corporations and labor unions. Oddly though, the chart stops at $88,000. And since the actual bill is not posted (that I could find anyway), I don't know what happens to people with incomes above that amount.
The solution to my other concern, how to provide healthcare to the thirty millionish uninsured people, is a bit more convoluted and was harder to find. This is from the Whitehouse.gov:
Beginning in April of this year, States will be allowed to expand Medicaid eligibility to more individuals. Starting on January 1, 2014, all low-income, non-elderly and non-disabled individuals will be eligible for Medicaid. This includes unemployed adults and working famlies – all people with income below $29,000 for a family of four (133% of poverty).
The Federal Government will support States by providing 100% of the cost of newly eligible people between 2014 and 2017, 95% of the costs between 2018 and 2019, and 90 percent matching for subsequent years.So... he is going to give them Medicaid. Again, I am a bit upset that the actual bill does not seem to be posted anywhere. It seems that the President is counting on his other cost saving measures and some tax hikes to pay for this. I am also not sure what the term "cost" means in this context. Is it premium costs, out of pocket costs, or is up to the state?
How is he going to pay for this? He is going to tax insurance companies at a higher rate because their profits are going to soar as more Americans are forced to sign up for some form of insurance. He is going tax pharmaceutical companies. He is going to raise taxes by .9% on high income individuals; and he is going to tax health insurance plans that cost over $27,000.
There are definitely some elements lacking in the proposal, none of which are cleared up by reading the newspaper. I would like to think that these missing elements would be hashed out in the Summit, but I have no reason to believe that either the Summit itself or the coverage of it will focus on explaining to Americans how this bill is going to affect them or help the uninsured. If anyone has answers to these questions or has found the actual legislation, please share.
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