• Public plan proponents are advocating a $1.25 per hour per employee tax to pay for the public plan.
• Under the public plan, doctors and hospitals would see their reimbursements for providing medical care cut by as much as 30%.
• The Lewin Group estimates that more than 100 million people would be enrolled in the public plan meaning more government spending at a time when the federal budget deficit is more than $1 trillion.
• The Commonwealth Fund’s own report on its public plan option says federal government spending would increase by $593 billion by 2020.
• Hospitals and doctors would see a $97 billion reduction in reimbursements.

The Commonwealth Fund, “The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System,” February 2009

• Despite claims by public plan proponents like Jacob Hacker that Medicare’s “efficiency” has helped lower health care costs, the truth is Medicare was forced to lower reimbursement rates by Congress.

Institute for America’s Future, “A Public Health Insurance Plan: Reducing Costs and Improving Quality”, p. 5, February 2009, and The Health Beat Blog, “Why Obama Should Stand Firm on a Public-Section Insurance Option Part 2,” March 19, 2009

• The Lewin Group’s latest estimate: 119.1 million people would be shifted from private coverage to government-run health insurance. This represents 70 percent of all people currently covered by private health insurance.
• Under a government-run health insurance plan, providers would be forced to provide more services for more people with less money.
• If a new government run plan is setup through Medicare, administrative costs would be 13.2%, the same as private health plans’ administrative costs.

John Sheils & Randy Haught, The Lewin Group, “The Cost and Coverage Impacts of a Public Plan: Alternative Design Options,” Staff Working Paper #4 , April 6, 2009

• In his latest paper, Jacob Hacker admits “private plans are generally more flexible, and they have, at times, moved into new areas of care management in advance of the public sector.”
• Advocates of a public plan admit “substantial investments will be needed to create a new public health insurance plan.”
• “Medicaid does grievously underpay providers in many states.”

Hacker, Jacob, “Healthy Competition: How to Structure Public Health Insurance Plan Choice to Ensure Risk-Sharing, Cost Control and Quality Improvement,” April 8, 2009.