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Health care law is working

A new report by the Congressional Budget Office out today (Monday, May 5, 2014) states that more than 12 million people will gain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act in this year, and millions more stand to benefit from the law over the next decade.

In addition, the law’s costs to the federal government are coming down. According to the CBO’s report, the fed will spend more than $100 billion less on “Obamacare’s” coverage provisions through 2024 than previously projected. This estimate includes $5 billion less for this year alone.

Spending on the federal and state exchanges is projected to cost 14 percent less than originally expected overall, and this lower spending is contributing to lower deficits. The fed is now expected to run a deficit of $492 billion in fiscal year 2014, an almost 33 percent decrease from 2013.

Already through the federal and state exchanges and the expansion of the Medicaid program, all told, CBO projects 12 million people now have insurance who would not have absent the law. The CBO also projects 19 million people will gain coverage by 2015, 25 million more by 2016 and 26 million more by 2026.

Narrower plans have also allowed companies to keep premiums low and the government to pay less in subsidies. The long and short here is that the law is working. We do not need repeal, we do not need any kind of replace (which Republicans lack ideas for anyhow). If we want these trends to continue, we must vote Democrat come November and again in 2016.

Eric Engle

Parkersburg

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