Pelosi Plan Makes Millions of People Pay Fines » The Foundry

Pelosi Plan Makes Millions of People Pay Fines » The Foundry: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) health care plan presumes that about 8-to-14-million American workers will pay fines rather than buy health insurance. Unless they do, there’s a $167-billion hole in her financing plan and everything falls apart.

Like the rest of us, this group would face higher-than-ever insurance prices under Pelosi’s proposed bill.

Speaker Pelosi, President Obama and others claim they will make coverage cheaper, yet the official projection relies upon millions who would prefer to pay fines rather than join their system. In some cases the individuals would pay the penalty; in others their employers would pay; and sometimes both.

The estimate of 8-to-14 million who would be fined is based on the official projections made by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The plan is built around a major contradiction. Only if it fails to make insurance more affordable would the bill generate the promised $167-billion by fining people who would still remain uninsured.

Why would this happen? Because insurance would become more expensive if the legislation passes, thus increasing the disincentives to buy coverage.

Premiums under the new government-run “public option” will probably be higher than from private insurance, according to CBO (page 6 of its report). The Associated Press reports that, “premiums in the public plan would be higher than the average for private plans.” Rather than inducing private carriers to lower their premiums, other experts agree that private insurance will also be costlier under Pelosi’s plan, as insurers pass along the bill’s tax increases.

Yet Speaker Pelosi claims the measure will bring “lower costs for every patient” by “lowering health care costs for all of us.” President Obama campaigned on a promise that his plan would save families $2,500 a year in lower premiums. He doesn’t mention that figure anymore."