Repealing Health Care Reform Disastrous in Terms of Administrative Costs

Opponents to the recent health care reform are getting more and more vocal, especially given the recent vote in Missouri in which their voters rejected the reforms. However, in an article from the Center for American Progress entitled, “Repealing Health Reform Would Mean Billions More in Administrative Costs”, they try to remind opponents as to one of the other big facets of the health care reform bill…efficiency.

According to the article, our current health care system spends over $160 in administrative costs that have nothing to do with health care. The Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare) is proposed to save money on administrative costs by establishing state-based exchanges for health insurance that should streamline the system and save $1.3 billion a year alone in administrative costs. This can add up to an over $7 billion savings for the five years between 2014, when the plan begins, and 2019 for the five million people who will switch to buying health insurance in exchanges.

The article also states that, while twenty-nine percent of the money used to pay for health insurance premiums currently will go down to twelve percent under the new health care reform administration. The article calls out those looking to repeal the health care reform bill as ignoring the efficiencies and customer protections included with the bill, and also states that repealing the bill would undermine Americans’ ability to buy affordable health insurance.