Not all surprises are good. When it comes to Obamacare, the original projections are turning into unfortunately different realities. For the next five days, Heritage is going to highlight one of the various changes in Obamacare projections (e.g. cost, enrollment, etc.) from when the law first passed until now.
Obamacare makes across-the-board payment cuts to Medicare providers.
In 2010, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that Obamacare would reduce Medicare spending by over $500 billion from 2010–2019.
In 2012, the CBO updated its estimate to total $716 billion in Medicare payment cuts from 2013–2022. The payment cuts will be made to Medicare Advantage, hospital services, home health services, nursing home services, and more.
Surprise: Medicare payment reductions are now estimated to be $200 billion more than they were in 2010. But the real surprise is that despite Medicare’s serious financing issues, these Medicare “savings” are used to pay for new spending in Obamacare, not to improve Medicare’s solvency.
12 Days of Obamacare Surprises:
7. Loss of employer-sponsored insurance…
6. A 50/50 split on enrollment estimates…
5. More uninsured Americans…
4. Increased exchange subsidies…
3. Big tax increases…
2. The small business tax credit…
1. And the individual mandate.
Donald Schneider is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: http://www.heritage.org/about/departments/ylp.cfm.
