One of the subjects in the debate on health care reform has been the question of what the impact will be to premiums paid by consumers, and what the impact would be of subsidization. Senator Bayh (D-IN) asked the Congressional Budget Office to opine…and that opinion was released yesterday.
Here’s the bottom line from the CBO:
| Channel | |||
| Individual | Small Group | Large Group | |
| Portion of Public Insured in Channel | 17 | 13 | 70 |
| Total Difference in Premiums | +10% to +13% | +1% to -2% | 0% to -3% |
| Share of People Receiving Subsidies | 57% | 12% | N/A |
| Difference in Premiums for Subsidized Customers | -56% to -59% | -8% to -11% | N/A |
(Figures are for the non-Medicare-eligible public.)
In other words, premiums are expected to go up for individuals and folks who get their insurance through small group plans, but those increases would be more than offset by subsidies for those who are eligible for subsidies.
Subsidies are, of course, paid for by taxpayers…or not, considering the government’s love of deficit spending.
The results of the CBO study are not new news – we’ve seen information like this before. However, it is one of the better summarizations I’ve seen, and it is probably the most succinct displays of how current reform efforts are about expanding coverage through cost-shifting, without actually doing anything substantive about the core problem of medical cost inflation.
