It’s getting harder and harder to find something about ObamaCare that turns out not to have been a complete load of crap.
U.S. Rep. Ryan: CBO confirms Obamacare will increase drug prices
11/4/2010In letter to Ranking Member Ryan, CBO highlights the latest health care broken promise
WASHINGTON – In response to a request from House Budget Committee Ranking Republican Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] confirmed that President Obama’s massive health care law will increase prescription drug prices. The CBO confirms the range of onerous restrictions and requirements will drive health care costs up, at odds with the claims made by its proponents. CBO’s letter specifies that manufacturers will have an incentive to raise drug prices and that, as a result, health care costs will increase for some seniors and for those who are uninsured.
In response to the findings, Ranking Member Ryan issued the following statement:
“On Tuesday, the American electorate forcefully repudiated President Obama’s agenda, including his massive health care overhaul. Today, the Congressional Budget Office refuted President Obama’s claims, making clear that his policies will drive health care costs up, not down. Especially troubling for many seniors is the news that their prescription drug costs and premiums will increase as a result of this legislation. I will continue to work to repeal this deeply flawed overhaul, advancing instead patient-centered health care reform and reforms to secure Medicare for current and future generations.”
Highlights from the CBO’s letter to Ranking Member Ryan:
“[The] increase in prices would make federal costs for Medicare’s drug benefit and the costs faced by some beneficiaries slightly higher than they would be in the absence of those provisions…”
“The legislation also imposes an annual fee on manufacturers and importers of brand-name drugs. CBO expects that the fee will probably increase the prices of drugs purchased through Medicare and the prices of newly introduced drugs purchased through Medicaid and other federal programs by about 1 percent. Those increases will be in addition to the ones described above that stem from the new requirements for discounts and rebates.”
“The premiums of drug plans will increase along with the increase in net drug prices, so the premiums paid by beneficiaries will increase slightly.”
To read CBO Director Doug Elmendorf’s Letter to Ranking Member Paul Ryan:
http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/116xx/doc11674/11-04-Drug_Pricing.pdf
Oops.
ObamaCare and Obama both translate to “one big ass mistake, America.”
Tags: CBO, Congressional Budget Office, Doug Elmendorf, drive health care costs up, drug plans, drug prices, health care, increase, Obamacare, premiums, prescription drug prices
Start Thinking Right 
November 7, 2010 at 1:01 pm
If “Obamacare” was dependent on the cuts to be “deficit reducing,”
could negating the cuts betray the electorate?
“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
has released the 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule,
which includes a 23 percent cut to Medicare physician fees…
…Congress delayed a scheduled pay cut of around 20 percent in June.
Rachel Fields
Beckers Hosptial Review, November 04, 2010
.
.
Did the delay of the June pay cut alter the “affordability”
of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),
and if so, who voted for both the initial legislation
and also voted to reverse the cuts making the law “affordable”?
.
.
“…The report from Medicare’s Office of the Actuary
…acknowledged that some of the cost-control measures in the [PPACA] bill
Medicare cuts, a tax on high-cost insurance
…could help reduce the rate of cost increases beyond 2020.
…the longer-term viability of the Medicare . . . reductions is doubtful.”
wrote Richard Foster, Medicare’s chief actuary”
Associated Press
.
.
Have the American people been lied to,
if the government passed a law that said X,
and those who voted for it did Y,
that made the “affordability” non-viable?
.
.
“…Neither the [the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)] bill
…nor the accompanying reconciliation…
…addresses the flawed formula that dictates physician payments under Medicare
…a bill passed by the House in November would scrap the SGR altogether,
replacing it with a formula designed to ensure that doctors’ Medicare payments
reflect the true cost of delivering care.
Pricetag: $210 billion.
…it was that cost that caused Democrats,
who’d vowed both to keep their reform package below $1 trillion and to offset the entire tab
to strip the doc fix from the larger reform bills.”
The issue has left Democrats in a pickle:
…with voters already weary of deficit spending,
[and/or borrowing] another $210 billion to fund a permanent fix.”
Mike Lillis
Washington Independent
.
.
If Medicare Cuts
are what makes the recently passed Healthcare Legislation “deficit reducing”
and the 23% cut is not enacted in December,
how could those who voted for the legislation be considered
not guilty of misleeding the electorate?
.
.
From an email from some supporting the elimination of the cut:
“Is the new healthcare law accounting dependent on the 23% payment reduction?
If the can is kicked down the road,
does the math in the healthcare legislation become not operable?”
George Hartzman
The answer:
“That is how the administration officials explained it to us…
…Their numbers are based on the law as it stands,
and it currently stands that the cuts will occur.
I think you know the answer to your last question.”
Lee Beadling
Managing Editor, Orthopedics Today
November 7, 2010 at 8:46 pm
George,
Good compendium of facts to show what a pile of lies ObamaCare truly is.
Thanks for the facts.
January 6, 2011 at 11:46 am
Our daughter’s anti-seizure medication has risen a whopping 400% this week. What do we do?? She and her husband cannot afford this increase if she wants to be a full-time stay-home mom.
January 6, 2011 at 5:49 pm
tsdurrett,
I am so sorry to hear that; you must be devastated, given how vital such a medication clearly is.
My father was just diagnosed with COPD; the inhaler medication cost $1,000.
It’s ridiculous. Just ridiculous.
And the government just makes it WORSE.
It takes SO much to make it through the FDA crap, and then it cost SO MUCH MORE to deal with massive lawsuits. Call the pharmaceutical industry evil; but they WILL recoup the huge losses that the government and the rampant sue-happy culture impose on them. Every penny will get passed on to you, the poor schmuck.
Do this, please: contact the company that makes the drug, and tell them about this situation. Because, demonization aside, some of these companies actually truly DO care, and provide medicines at much lower prices to hardship cases.
I hope your daughter can continue to be a full-time mom. Because boy, is that ever important for a kid.