International management consulting firm Oliver Wyman has corroborated a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, suggesting that the current health bill in Congress will lead to 50% higher premiums.
While the PWC report had been considered flawed by proponents of government run health care, this new evidence substantiates the claims made by the report, which was released by AHIP.
This report, however, does not include any of the distortions that would come from the many taxes that have been included in the Obaucus bill. As Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, wrote in the Investor’s Business Daily,
"The most significant tax increase on millions of health insurance plans is the Cadillac excise tax….
Sadly, that’s not the only tax increase on your current health insurance plan. If you’re one of the 25 million Americans with a health flexible spending account (FSA) at work, you’ll suddenly find these currently unlimited accounts capped at $2,500….
If you’re one of the 7 million Americans with a health savings account (HSA), the extra tax penalty for nonhealth withdrawals goes up from 10% to 20%….
There’s more. Three tax hikes in the bill are simply cash grabs from victimized industries — health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and medical device firms. Because many Americans ultimately receive their medicine and health equipment by way of their health insurance plan, it’s likely the burden of paying these new taxes will also fall on your current health insurance plan….”
It is clear that your insurance premiums will rise if the Obaucus bill is passed, and that taxes will be raised on most Americans. Because of these tax hikes, we remind the president of his promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000.