According to the National Center For Policy Analysis, PricewaterhouseCoopers has analyzed the Baucus bill and found the following:
"* For individuals making $34,140 (three times the Federal Poverty Level) the Baucus health care proposal could mandate up to $4,097 in annual premiums, a sum which could have been spent on over nine months of food, almost four months of housing or well over a year of utilities.
* For a family of four making $69,480 (300 percent above poverty) the Baucus bill mandates annual health insurance premiums of $8,338, which would be worth the equivalent of over 10 months of food, four months of housing or almost two years of utilities.
* For individuals earning $45,520 (400 percent above poverty) Baucus mandates $5,462 for health insurance, or over a year of food, four months of rent or a year and a half of utilities.
* For families earning $92,640 (400 percent above poverty) Baucus mandates $11,117 in health premiums, the equivalent of over a year of food, five months of housing or two years of utilities."
According to the NCPA, those numbers include the subsidies for health insurance in the Baucus bill; i.e. these costs are after subsidies. If true, when I look at that and compare it to what I currently pay for catastrophic insurance to go with my health savings account, the Baucus plan will (if passed) force me to spend more than three times what I currently pay for insurance, none of it going into savings.
Frankly, this makes me very angry. I have other needs and if the State forces me to spend at this level for unwanted insurance, my overall quality of life will decline, and I will probably have to increase the fees I charge for my services.
Upon reading about these mandates, one of my friends said:
"That's just for insurance??? They probably have deductibles so anyone needing any care would have to pay that ON TOP OF that amount for insurance? ...so you would not necessarily get ANY medical care!"
She added:
"Man, with that much money per year I could do so much more with wellness care AND a health savings account. How on earth could anyone think it will save us money to use this plan? Propaganda and lack of info will enroll a nation in a plan that wastes our money and leaves us without the true health care you and I desire!
Who will benefit? Government workers & pharmaceutical companies, and whoever else has their hand in the cookie jar! It really bothers me this stupid plan."
Reading the original document put out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (you can download it at the NCPA site), I feel amazed that people would pay more than $1000 per month ($13K per year) for medical insurance for a family of four right now (before "reform"). That amounts to spending $250 monthly on every member. That would buy 30 pounds of grass-fed ground beef; up to 8 acupuncture or herbal treatments in my office; ten bottles of vitamin D3; and at least two "preventive" visits to a physician's office.
It seems to me that one would get more value, i.e. more real health care, by taking most of that $250 and actually spending it on health care every month, rather than throwing it in the insurance hole. By health care, I don't mean drugs and surgery (disease care), I mean quality food, stress reduction, play, exercise, vacation, necessary supplements, consultation with a health care professional, herbal medicines, etc. But I think differently than most people.
I pay a much lower premium because I elect to carry only catastrophic insurance with a $5K deductible per individual. I pay for real ongoing health care (quality food, vitamin D3, herbal medicines, etc.) out pocket as I go along, and put the difference in savings. I have not yet found out if the "reform" will allow me to continue with this choice, or will force me to pay triple for something I don't use.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that with the Baucus "reform" that $13K per annum cost of medical insurance will increase to $26K per annum (family of four) by 2019. Without the reform, it will increase to $22K by 2019. A large part of the increase is simply inflation (decline of the value of the dollar). I expect the price tag in either case will ultimately be much higher since I expect dramatic inflation in the near future as a result of the FED flooding the market with "stimulus" money.
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