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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the health care law will cost $1.34 trillion over the coming decade, $136 billion more than the CBO predicted a year ago. That 11 percent hike is mostly caused by >>>higher-than-expected enrollment in the expanded Medicaid program<<< established under the law.
...and next year it'll go up more, and so on, and so on, and so on. Like every other government program, the costs will rise 10%+ above the their estimates each year <<shock>>. By this time in 2025 it will have cost more like $2T-$3T.
It doesn't matter. It will just be another one of the many cans that we are kicking down the road. Who cares about the debt, we elect other people to worry about that kind of stuff... Right?
Expanded health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature legislative legacy, will cost the government more, according to an official study released Thursday. Still, on balance, the measure more than pays for itself.
This is the complete report, it includes paragraphs missing from the article quoted by the OP:
The Obama administration said the report shows that the law is working to cover the uninsured and that the cost projections, when viewed in context, remain positive.
"It's important to appreciate that the (health care law) is not just about some race to meet a given number of enrollees," spokesman Aaron Albright said in a statement. "It is about health care in America for all of us as we go through life ... affordable insurance is not out of reach because of costs or a pre-existing condition."
Some of the luckier people in the country are those living close to the Mexican Border. They have those International Red Cross Clinic's over there (open to everyone, Mexican or otherwise) where they only charge you $5 to see a Dr., along with the pharmacias where you don't even need a prescription for a drug, unless it be a controlled substance.
I went to one last summer in Tijuana, cost me only 50 peso's, $4.50 to see a Dr.!
Obamacare made sure that sick people were covered by insurance, but failed to address the extremely high cost of healthcare in the US. So of course, if the insurance companies are forced to take on accounts that are guaranteed to cost them millions in losses, expect the premiums to go up for everyone else they insure.
The cost of prescription drugs needs to be addressed. The drug companies should be compensated for the development of the drug. Then we need to address how to deal with new drugs and potential risks to the patients. And the patients need to decide if the risks are worth it and then sign off on a waiver to limit the drug companies' liability. IMO it's unreasonable and completely unrealistic to expect every drug to be a magic cure-all pill without any negative side effects. And no one's health condition is identical. Each case is unique because of genetic, health condition and age factor.
We also need to address the crazy high malpractice settlements in our country where the lawyers' take is 33-40% of the payout. Instead of ambulance chasing lawyers, use arbitration boards with set guidelines for compensation.
Mexico's cost of healthcare is super cheap because the drug companies don't have to deal with the FDA and insurance liabilities. The doctors don't have to have expensive malpractice insurance. And the same goes for Costa Rica and other countries where US citizens go to for cheap cosmetic surgeries.
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