President Obama took Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) to task today for misrepresenting what the CBO says health care reform will do to peoples’ premiums.
“Let me respond to what you just said, Lamar, because it’s not factually accurate,” Obama said. “The cost for families for the same type of coverage as they’re currently receiving would go down 14 to 20 percent.”
The record is tricky, but shows that Obama is correct. The Congressional Budget Office says that the average individual market premium will technically go up. But that’s because people will be able to buy better coverage at a lower per-procedure cost, and with the help of subsidies. More to the point, CBO says, whatever happens to premiums (the price tag) people will be paying less out of pocket, because the government subsidies would more than outstrip any cost increases.
