Corporate Research Group’s Weblog

Premiums go up, and lots of people remain uninsured — as illustrated in the charts below created by Aaron Carroll using data from Jonathan Gruber.  (Hat tip: Healthbeatblog)

From a New York Times editorial following the decision by Don Berwick, M.D., to resign as tempory head of Medicare in the face of fierce Republican opposition to his nomination to the post.   

Through no fault of his own, Dr. Berwick, a respected expert on health care costs and quality, became a lightning-rod for Republican attacks on health care reform and government entitlement programs. Republicans distorted his record and past statements to imply that he would introduce “socialized” medicine and “death panels” and ignored the praise heaped on him by health care professionals and medical organizations.

Karen Davis, 69, will retire as president of The Commonwealth Fund at the end of 2012 after 20 years with the organization.  My view on Davis: if there were more people like her, the world would be a far better place.

Oh yeah, 49 million was right around the number of Americans without health insurance prior to the passage of ObamaCare.  (It actually came close to 51 million in 2009). 

What’s interesting about the 49 million figure released last week by the Census Bureau for people living in poverty in 2010 is that it’s based on a new measure.  In the past, the poverty threshold was set at three times the cost of a minimum food diet for a family of four — or about $22,000 in 2010.  (Imagine living on an income of $22,000 a year.  Hell, imagine living on twice that).  Using this measure, there were 46.6 million in poverty in 2010.

The new measure counts the value of government programs like food stamps as part of household income, but in addition to the cost of food includes expenses like clothing, shelter, utilities and out-of-pocket medical expenses.  That raises the poverty threshold to $24,000 — meaning more people fall at or below the poverty level.

The impact of out-of-pocket medical expenses is big.  Under the new measure, about 16% of Americans live in poverty.  That percentage would fall to 12.7% if it wasn’t for medical expenses.  In other words, about 10 million people would be lifted out of poverty if they didn’t have to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses.

As I’ve noted before, one reason we have ObamaCare today is because of the uninsured.  Simply put, the numbers were getting too big for people to find comfort in platitudes like “it won’t happen to me.”  “It” being sickness and financial ruin. (Another reason is the uncomfortable fact that health insurers sometimes abandon their own sick members).

With the number of people living in poverty reaching similar heights (coupled with rising economic risk and uncertainty for those lucky enough to have a decent job), you have to wonder if movements like Occupy Wall Street are just noise or a sign that another round of social reforms is coming.

At a recent family party, someone asked me what I thought of ObamaCare.  “It’s O.K., but it doesn’t go far enough,” I said.  The reply: “Well, we can’t pay for everybody.”  Actually, we can.  It’s just a matter of deciding what we want to spend our money on.  The cost of healthcare reform is projected to be about $1.1 trillion over the next 10 years — or $110 billion per year.  Here are five things that cost at about that much.

1. War: U.S. Defense Dept. spending on war (e.g., Iraq and Afganistan) has averaged $130 billion annually over the past decade.  Source: Costs of War

2. Wall Street Bailout of 2008: The total amount outstanding (mostly loans and net of TARP funds and liquidity loans already paid back by banks and financial companies) is $1.56 trillion. Source: SourceWatch

3. Tax Cuts for the Wealthy. Since 2001, the Bush tax cuts have saved the wealthiest 5% of Americans $1 trillion.  Source: Costoftaxcuts.com

4. Health Insurance Administrative Costs: At about 7% of total healthcare spending, administrative costs associated with health insurance total about $160 billion annually — a figure that could be reduced by $100 billion by simply achieving international benchmarks.  Source: The Commonwealth Fund

5. The New York Yankees Payroll.  All right, it’s actually “only” $200 million annually, but give it time.

Special Bonus Update: For those of you who argue that ObamaCare is just a handout for freeloaders, I ask you this:  Do you own a home?  Do you deduct mortgage interest payments from your taxes?  Good, because the mortgage interest deduction costs the federal goverment about $100 billion annually — or nearly the entire cost of ObamaCare.  Source: The Tax Foundation