Budget shows cost of health insurance exchange subsidies going up

Cost of Exchanges Shoots Up
Politico (04/12/13) Norman, Brett

The new White House budget shows that health insurance exchange costs have risen substantially, anticipating that $606 billion will be spent on subsidies between 2014 and 2021, up 27 percent from more than $478 billion in the 2013 budget and 65 percent from more than $367 billion in the 2012 budget. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made the Medicaid expansion optional for states is being blamed for boosting exchange costs, with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimating that subsidies for an individual who would have qualified for Medicaid under the expansion will total $9,000, versus $6,000 for Medicaid coverage. However, the CBO says state decisions not to expand Medicaid mean 3 million fewer people will be covered in 2022, and the Supreme Court ruling will save around $80 billion through that year.

Doesn’t all this make you wonder why we have such an array of government programs each with its own rules and requirements for coverage, each financed differently and each reimbursing health care providers at vastly different levels? Do we have any idea what we are doing? It’s like a bunch of teenagers with only the ability to make short term decisions and no ability to consider long term consequences.