CBO: Obamacare costs revised downward, again. Finds lower than expected premiums.

Quote:

Relative to their previous projections, CBO and JCT now estimate that the ACA’s coverage provisions will result in lower net costs to the federal government: The agencies now project a net cost of $36 billion for 2014, $5 billion less than the previous projection for the year; and $1,383 billion for the 2015–2024 period, $104 billion less than the previous projection. ... Those estimates address only the insurance coverage pro-visions of the ACA, which do not generate all of the act’s budgetary effects. Many other provisions, on net, are expected to reduce budget deficits. Considering all of the provisions—including the coverage provisions— CBO and JCT estimated in July 2012 (their most recent comprehensive estimate) that the ACA’s overall effect would be to reduce federal deficits. ... CBO and JCT estimate that the average cost of individual policies for the second-lowest-cost “silver” plan in the exchanges—the benchmark for determining exchange subsidies—is about $3,800 in 2014. That estimate represents a national average, and it reflects CBO and JCT’s projections of the age, sex, health status, and geographic distribution of those who will obtain coverage through the exchanges in 2014. That benchmark premium is projected to rise slightly in 2015, to about $3,900, and then to rise more rapidly thereafter, reaching about $4,400 in 2016 and about $6,900 in 2024. Thus, premiums are projected to increase by about 6 percent per year, on average, from 2016 to 2024. The current projection of the average premium for the benchmark silver plan in 2016 of about $4,400 is 15 percent below the comparable estimate of $5,200 published by CBO in November 2009. ... Despite projecting that slightly more people will receive insurance coverage through exchanges over the 2015–2024 period than they had anticipated previously, CBO and JCT project that costs for exchange subsidies and related spending will be $164 billion (or 14 percent) below the previous projection, mainly because of the downward revision to expected exchange premiums. http://ift.tt/1kTkckf

Thanks Obama.

via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1iOtVBD