Showing posts with label Ike Skeleton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ike Skeleton. Show all posts

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.