Monday, July 27, 2009

Benefits From Health Care Reform, in Black & White

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has helpfully produced a district-by-district breakdown of how HR 3200 (the America's Affordable Health Choices Act) will affect Americans. This is one of the best things I have seen to be used as an argument FOR this bill. Why it isn't out there more is beyond me.

It breaks it down by state and then by district so that you can see how each Congressional District will be impacted as far as small businesses and senior citizens.

Take my district here in Missouri. Here are the stats for it.

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 4th Congressional District of Missouri: up to 14,900 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 11,100 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,150 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $135 million in uncompensated care each year; and 72,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance. Congressman Ike Skelton represents the district.
• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 14,900 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.
• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 11,100 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.
• Health care and financial security. There were 1,150 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.
• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $135 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.
• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 92,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 14% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 72,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.
• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 1,100 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 99.6% of taxpayers in the district.
This analysis is based upon the following sources: the Gallup-Healthways Survey (data on the uninsured); the U.S. Census (data on small businesses); the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (data on the Part D donut hole, health care-related bankruptcies (based on analysis of PACER court records), and uncompensated care); and the House Committee on Ways and Means (data on the surtax).


Does that not show how beneficial this would be for my small rural area.. We have no major cities in my area.. The largest city here is about 6,000 people. We are a farming area with very little manufactoring.

This Chart is probably one of the best selling points out there.. Even for the Republicans. This should be screaming from every front page of the newspapers I think.

Please share it with everyone, post it on your sites and lets get this word out there.

h/t to Show Me Progress for the link.

10 comments:

K. said...

The information for the relevant districts should be in every newspaper in the country. Also, advocates should take the info to their districts for distribution at town meetings. Thanks for calling this to our attention.

nonnie9999 said...

i really wish the dems would make howard dean the point man on health care and the public option. nobody explains it better than he does, and he's got credibility, being a doctor and being married to one.

Gregg's Health Insurance News said...

Despite the organizations you mentioned who claim that cost cutting measures will pay for the reform on its own, the Congressional Budget Office looked at the accounting on all of this and they say that will be no savings for 10 years under the currently proposed legislation. They've also been stating that the cost is much higher than President Obama has claimed. We need reform the right now, not the deceptive way.

K. said...

This only highlights the necessity of the surcharge.

No doubt you want "reform" the "right" way. I'd like to know what that means.

K. said...

For the record, the CBO's analysis of HB 3200 is preliminary and does not appear to reflect the surcharge attached to the wealthiest taxpayers. The surcharge was attached to make the bill revenue neutral.

Also, even their preliminary assessment estimates that 37,000,000 of the uninsured will become insured and that half the remaining uninsured will be undocumented workers.

Finally, no one claims that reform will take effect the day after passage, which is all the more reason to expedite health care reform. We've been diddling around about it for 60 years; now is the time for action.

Incidentaly, according Paul Krugman, Gregg's favorites -- the Blue Dog Dems -- make no sense at all when it comes to health care reform. Krugman adds that all of the current Democratic proposals are revenue neutral.

Annette said...

Gregg,
According to CBO's and JCT's assessment, enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period. That estimate reflects a projected 10-year cost of the bill's insurance coverage provisions of $1,042 billion, partly offset by net spending changes that CBO estimates would save $219 billion over the same period, and by revenue provisions that JCT estimates would increase federal revenues by about $583 billion over those 10 years.

CBO Estimates

Realtor from Toronto said...

Despite the benefits, the legislature have some big time flaws. Have you heard of the euthanasia counselling?

Julie

Annette said...

There is no euthanasia counselling and if there was it may be a good thing. But, if you think there is, give me a link to a page number and show it to me..

mommapolitico said...

Annette is right. Her figures check out, and she is right again in regards to the lies being spread re: the plan killing old people. It is more propaganda from an out of power party that is so desperate that they will do anything to defeat the Democrat's agenda, even if that agenda includes measures that the American people overwhelmingly support.

Great post, and I will post the links, too. I guess it's up to us to get the truth out there, one blogger at a time! Great research, Annette. Thanks.

mommapolitico said...

Just posted on twitter both links, and a link back to your blog as well. Again, great research, Girlfriend!