Obama's invalid assumptions of health care revealed

IBD:

News this week that ObamaCare will cause a huge spike in insurance claims in the individual market — and result in sky-high premium hikes — was bad enough. Worse still was the administration's response.

A study released Tuesday by the Society of Actuaries said that health claims will shoot up an average 32% under ObamaCare. Some states will see claims rise as much as 80%, while just five states could see them drop a little.

The reason, the report says, isn't just that millions of uninsured will get coverage, which the actuaries estimate will cause them to double their health spending.

Also driving claims higher is that many employers will dump coverage for workers once ObamaCare kicks in, and those workers will be far more expensive to insure than people already in the individual market.

Either way, the result will be higher premiums for millions of Americans.

This is just the latest in a series of recent reports all pointing in the same direction. Namely that, despite President Obama's many promises, the "Affordable Care Act" will be anything but.

So what is the administration's response? A big yawn.

Sure, prices are going to go up for men, the young and the healthy. But who cares, since they're going to go down for women, sicker and older people.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius dismissed it all as a "sort of a one-to-one shift."

And, besides, she said, those paying more will get far more generous coverage, so what's to complain about?

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I saw an AP analysis that suggested that those with employer paid healthcare would not see much difference.  They could not be more wrong.  Employers will make adjustments to their cost structure to remain profitable, and that will likely lead to people being laid off or having their hours reduced.  It could also lead to pay cuts to absorb the increased costs.  Employers budget for more than just salaries.  Accountants call it "burden."  It is the additional cost that each employee cost which includes the employer share of Social Security and benefits such as health insurance.  You would have to be pretty naive to believe they will just eat the additional cost without making cuts somewhere else.