Next week will mark the 8-month anniversary of the new health care law. When we started this debate almost 2 years ago, I relied on my longtime experience in the medical field to come up with four principles that I strongly believe should be in any health care reform. The first was that health care reform should lower costs. That has yet to happen under this law. Instead, the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected that overall national health spending would increase an average of 6.3 percent a year over the next decade under the new law. In addition, the law imposes more than half a trillion dollars in tax increases. It imposes more than $210 billion in new payroll taxes that could hit small business owners. The Medicare actuary has reported that health care costs would actually increase over the next decade by a total of $310.8 billion. The Congressional Budget Office, or the CBO, wrote that most of the major saving proposals in the health care law are 'widely expected' to be scaled back or would be difficult to sustain for a long period. That means higher deficits.
Editor's note · Context
The speaker discusses the impact of the new health care law on costs and access to care.
Share
More from Glenn Thompson
over the weekend, we marked a solemn day: Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. On December 7, 1941, our great Nation was suddenly attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy, killing more than 2,400 American servicemembers and civilians and propelling…
I have concerns about the unintended consequences that may arise should Congress begin to chip away piecemeal like that the ban on hot food in SNAP without considering the broader ramifications, particularly for program integrity. A change…
I rise to recognize the Nittany Leathernecks' contribution to Christmas throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Nittany Leathernecks Detachment of the Marine Corps League is a community service organization composed of active…
I rise today to recognize January as National Blood Donor Month. Since its inception in 1970, National Blood Donor Month recognizes the millions of Americans who help save lives by donating blood. Statistics show that every two seconds…





