A proponent of the Affordable Care Act has admitted that insurance premiums will dramatically increase under the Act's reforms. The White House chief of staff has also suggested that the recent "compromise" on contraceptive coverage in health plans will ultimately save insurance companies money.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Jonathon Gruber, a proponent of the health care reforms of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), has recently acknowledged that the "price of insurance premiums will dramatically increase under the reforms."[1]Sally Pipes, president of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, agrees according to the Daily Caller. Pipes indicated that the Affordable Care Act will cause healthcare rationing, and that the Obamacare "will ultimately result in far greater costs across the board."[2]
On a related note, White House chief of staff Jack Lew indicated that the recent "compromise" proposed by the Obama administration requiring insurance companies to pay for the cost of birth control if religious non-profit insureds claim an exemption in their health plans "will not cost the insurance companies money." As reported by Talking Points Memo, Lew said on CNN's "State of the Union" that the total care of healthcare for persons without contraceptive coverage is higher than with such coverage.[3]
UPDATE: According to the Weekly Standard, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has said that self-insured entities should be required to pay for morning-after pills and birth control as part of the health insurance plans they provide. This would include organizations such as the Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., which is a self-insured institution that has expressed its moral objections to birth control.
Pelosi went on to say that "all institutions" that provide health insurance "should cover the full range of health insurance issues for women."[4]
1. Obamacare Architect: Expect Steep Increase in Health Care Premiums, Myles Miller, February 11, 2012.
2. Obamacare Architect: Expect Steep Increase in Health Care Premium, Myles Miller, February 11, 2012.
3. Lew: Tweaked Contraception Rule Will Save Insurance Companies Money, Sahil Kapur, February 12, 2012.
4. Pelosi: Govt. Should Require Church To Pay for Birth Control, John McCormack, Ferbruary 16, 2012.
2. Obamacare Architect: Expect Steep Increase in Health Care Premium, Myles Miller, February 11, 2012.
3. Lew: Tweaked Contraception Rule Will Save Insurance Companies Money, Sahil Kapur, February 12, 2012.
4. Pelosi: Govt. Should Require Church To Pay for Birth Control, John McCormack, Ferbruary 16, 2012.
