My must read of the day is "Obama administration: Health law’s new rules will increase costs for most small businesses," in the Washington Post:
Nearly two-thirds of small businesses that currently offer health insurance to their workers will pay more for coverage as a result of new rules in the health care law, as will millions of small-business employees and their family members, according to new estimates released by the Obama administration.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has spearheaded the implementation of the law, has acknowledged that new rules requiring insurers to offer guaranteed coverage and renewal options to small employers will likely drive up the price of insurance for some companies. So will rules banning insurance companies from varying their rates based on factors like a company’s industry or the age of its employees.
On the other hand, some firms with exceptionally sick or at-risk workers will benefit from those provisions and see their premiums come down under the new rules, which took effect this year.
The CMS report, which you can read here, estimates that "premium rates for roughly 11 million people will increase and about 6 million people are expected to experience a premium rate reduction due to sections 2701 through 2703 of the PHS Act."
The Democrat’s pushback has been that the report is not accurate because it doesn’t factor in tax credit subsidies. But subsidies are not a guarantee.
Indeed, we’ve seen that many people, particularly young people, won’t receive a subsidy at all.
The latest CMS report and the Democratic rebuttal demonstrate a long held complaint by opponents of the health care law: It picks winners and losers. Some people will absolutely benefit from the law. Some people will have lower premiums or receive adequate subsidies. But many will not. That’s the problem.