Enzi: American Families Paying More Because of Health Care Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said a new report released today from the Government Accounting Office (GAO) shows that health care reform is driving up costs for American families and small businesses and has forced millions of Americans to seek waivers from the new law.  

“Americans were promised health care reform would save families thousands of dollars,” said Senator Enzi. “As we can see from this new GAO report, the opposite is true.  In fact, millions of Americans have had to seek waivers from a part of the new health law because their premium increases were set to rise by double digits. Even more troubling are the thousands of people who were denied waivers and will now be forced to pay higher premiums for health insurance.”

The GAO report, which was mandated in the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2011, states: “according to CCIIO officials, applications with a projected premium increase of 10 percent or more tended to be approved while applications with a projected premium increase of 6 percent or less tended to be denied. Applications with a premium increase between 7 and 9 percent warranted additional staff reviews to determine if the application met the agency’s criteria.”  Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office has concluded premiums will increase by $2100 a year for families purchasing coverage. 

“This report shows in black and white that the new health care law is wrong for our nation,” Senator Enzi said. “Americans were promised that their health insurance premiums would go down, not up. We are already burdened by higher gas prices and a weak economy, and higher health care costs will only threaten what little economic progress has been made.  It is time to focus on common sense steps that can help working Americans like small business health plans and greater flexibility for insurance products available after 2014.”

You can read the report here.

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