DALLAS, TX (Nov. 9, 2009) — For your health reform analysis, National Center for Policy Analysis President John C. Goodman is available for interviews on the House health reform bill and the pending Senate legislation that would mean:
- Significant job losses and a financial blow to employers, especially small businesses. The House bill imposes with a major tax on labor, amounting to 10.5% of wages.
- Tens of millions of people will lose their current employer coverage (19 million under the current Senate bill.)
- Lower quality of care as people are forced out of good health insurance plans and forced into inferior ones.
- A devastating impact on seniors, with $400 billion of cut spending on Medicare and Medicaid, with seniors bearing almost all the cost. And up to 8.5 million seniors losing Medicare Advantage coverage.
- The government can push millions of seniors into managed care plans that have economic incentives to deny care.
Goodman points out that "Neither the House bill or the two in the Senate will control costs. In fact, as we pay more in taxes and penalties, most of us will be waiting much longer for lower quality medical care. Like the Baucus bill in the Senate, the Pelosi bill will increase demand but do nothing to increase supply."
Dr. Goodman has been dubbed the "Father of Health Savings Accounts" by The Wall St. Journal and is one of the nation's top health economists. He's authored nine books and regularly testifies before Congress on health reform.
He can also speak to the opposition protests. The NCPA is in touch with more than a million people each week and we see no let up in the anger and backlash against Congress that was so visible at the town hall meetings. The NCPA's Free Our Health Care Now petition has 1.3 million signatures and continues to grow.