From the diaries by Erick.

My full article is here at The Heritage Foundation’s blog.

A major new report confirms the worst fears of many: Health care reform will raise the costs for most Americans—by about 18% on average. That is on top of existing and expected inflation of health coverage.

This exposes President Obama’s fictitious claim that people will save money under his proposal.  Only those who receive new government subsidies and benefits will “save.”  The rest of us will pay–big-time.

Once the plan is fully phased-in (by 2019), a typical family of four would pay an extra $4,000 each year.

When combined with inflation, costs would rise from today’s $12,300 annual average to $25,900. Of that 111% increase, $9,600 is due to existing factors uncorrected by the legislation, and $4,000 due to additional costs created by the legislation.

For single persons, the differential is projected at $1,500 a year. Premiums would rise from today’s $4,600 a year to $9,600 overall.

Prepared by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), the study was requested by AHIP—America’s Health Insurance Plans. It focuses on the leading plan pending in Congress, sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D, MT), which is scheduled for a Senate Finance Committee vote on Tuesday.

The PWC projections track what The Heritage Foundation and many others have said about the legislation: It does not save money. It simply taxes those who have health coverage and uses their money to give care to others.

The White House is said to be furious. After all, President Obama’s claims that he makes care more affordable are exposed as a myth by the new study.

Details and links are here.

Today brings news that the government is investigating a major insurance company. What’d they do this time? Rescind the coverage from an old lady while she was falling down the stairs? Collude with a competitor to fix prices?

No, according to the Associated Press, the government is investigating Humana for sending out a mailer that could be construed as opposing Democratic Party policy.

You probably didn’t know that it was a crime to oppose the Democratic Party’s policy positions. Well, if truth be told it isn’t. But now that we have thugs running the government, you can be investigated anyway.

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From the diaries by Erick. . .

The Hill reports that Snowe is not signing on to the Baucus bill.

Senate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee’s bill.

Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) failed to win any Republican backer despite weeks of intense negotiations behind closed doors to strike a deal.

Snowe (Maine), who was one of three Republicans who backed the $787 billion economic stimulus package, was being lobbied heavily by the White House, and some centrists view her refusal to strike a deal with Baucus as troubling. But concerns about how the plan would be paid for prompted her to back away in the hours before its release.

“I do have concerns and I’m not sure they can be addressed before he issues [legislation] tomorrow,” Snowe said.

Axelrod is trying to get the Dems to unite. Reid says screw the GOP as he plans to use reconciliation (what a misnomer) when the time comes.

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