Weekend update / Miscellany

Govexec.com reports on the upcoming Open Season, noting that "a provision in the health care reform bill crafted by the Senate Finance Committee would levy a 40 percent tax, beginning in 2013, on the overall value of health insurance plans that cost more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families. By some calculations, FEHBP plans already are above the threshold designated for the excise tax, should it be enacted." That tax would be imposed on the premiums that exceed the threshold, not the entire premium. And it faces a great deal of opposition in the House of Representatives.

In worrisome contrast, the Senate Finance Committee bill would allocate to the FEHB Program a large chunk of a $6.7 billion annual fee on health insurers. That assessment may add 1% to FEHB premiums because self-insured employers and traditional Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE are exempted. What's more, it would smack the Program next year, not 2013, if enacted. Rising prescription drug costs are the least of the FEHB Program's problems. At least prescription drugs improve peoples' health.

Speaking of healthcare reform, the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued an analysis of the House leadership's bill, H.R. 3200. This analysis indicates that the bill would cause national health care expenses to increase by $750.3 billion over the next decade. Wellpoint is offering its own analytical reports on how health care reform would impact premiums in each of the states that it offers health insurance, including New York and California.