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Report: Cost caps in health law to save Nevadans $250 million
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STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Updated: Feb. 17, 2011 | 8:04 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Proponents of health care reform on Wednesday continued to promote sections of the new law that aim to cushion costs for consumers.
Nevada families would save more than $250 million annually through a part of the law that will place a ceiling on how much consumers pay out-of-pocket for premiums, deductibles and co-payments for covered services, a study released by Families USA said.
The spending caps are scheduled to go into effect in 2014, but The Lewin Group, a health analysis firm commissioned by Families USA, crunched numbers as if the caps were in place today.
According to the study, 144,700 Nevadans under the age of 65 are in families that will spend more than the out-of-pocket caps this year, and they will spend $249.9 million over the limits.
The caps will be put in place in policies that individuals buy on health exchanges that will be set up through the government, on new policies bought outside the exchanges and on existing policies that lose their grandfather status under the law. Families USA's Ron Pollack said that would cover well over a majority of insurance purchasers.
Given the rate of inflation for health care, he added the savings will likely be greater once the caps take effect in 2014.
The out-of-pocket caps would be set on a sliding scale based on family income. If the caps were in place today, the most an individual would pay for the covered services would be $5,950. The cap for a family would be $11,900. Families USA recruited Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, both Nevada Democrats, and Bob Fulkerson, state director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, to roll out the study.
"The money saved from the out-of-pocket caps is going to provide a huge relief from financial insecurity faced by Nevada's working families and small businesses," Fulkerson said.
Reid said the consumer friendly provision is a reason why the health care law should not be repealed. "This is good legislation and the Republicans should leave us alone," he said.
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A typical Dingy Harry piece of legislation! They are going to cap the out-of-pocket expenses, but what about the total costs? Who pays for the real cost of healthcare. If a procedure costs $100.00 and my cost is capped at $10.00, who pays the $90.00. The gap between what the user pays and what the insurance company pays is the problem. Does the doctor eat the difference? Scary Shelley and Dingy Harry are like the firefighter crooks in Clark County. As long as they get their money, voters can drop dead. Demorats and liberals, the downfall of America!
There has to be an end to the financial drain. What happened to the 2 year limit on benefits? We NEED THE 2 YEAR LIMIT ON ALL PROGRAMS. If you are so low income (for more than 2 years) that you cannot earn enough to take care of yourself there is no likelihood that you'd ever become a productive member of society. End this nonsense that families matter but singles don't. Provide for the singles who don't have babies they cannot support in favor of TRYING TO EARN A LIVING.
This is just one small benefit of many to come from this landmark legislation