COSTS, IMPACT ON PRIVATE INSURANCE, AND NUMBEER OF AMERICANS TO BE COVERED REMAIN UNCERTAIN

WASHINGTON, MARCH 21, 2012 – “Although this hearing was intended to provide insight on the total impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) two years after its enactment, vital questions remain unanswered,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.  “Former Speaker of the House Pelosi said that we would have to pass the bill before we know what’s in it; now it appears to be the Administration’s contention that we will have to implement it before we know its costs, how it will operate, and its impact on the health care of the American people.”

Stearns noted that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently announced that the 10-year cost of Obamacare is nearly $2 trillion, substantially higher than the estimate at its passage.  Stearns also made the point that the earlier prediction that 375,000 individuals would sign up for the temporary high risk pools in the first year, but that only 50,000 have signed up over two years.  “Nothing has come to pass as promised,” said Stearns.

Stearns also focused on the cost of insurance premiums, which President Obama claimed would be reduced by up to $2,500 per family.  Citing the Kaiser Family Foundation, Stearns stated that insurance premiums have increased 9 percent, three times the rate of inflation, since enactment of Obamacare.  In a question to Mr. Steven Larsen, Deputy Administration and Director, Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Stearns asked, “Wouldn’t that indicate that a lot of the things that you have talked about that have been implemented have not brought costs down?”  Larsen responded, “Well, first of all, that rate of increase has been consistent over the last 10 years, which is…” To which Stearns stated, “So the fact is it’s not changed under Obamacare.”  

“Even two years after its enactment, we still have more questions than answers on a critical matter – the health care of the American people,” concluded Stearns.