Benefits of health care reform to New Jersey

by: Hopeful

Thu Mar 25, 2010 at 12:54:36 PM EDT

To concentrate their minds, though, here is an analysis of the benefits to New Jersey (PDF) of the whole reform package:

Provide tax credits for up to 107,000 New Jersey small businesses to help make coverage more affordable. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10]

Prohibit insurance companies from excluding coverage of pre-existing conditions for the 2 million children in New Jersey, starting this year. [U.S. Census Bureau, 1/7/10]

Close the "donut hole" and improve other Medicare benefits for 1.3 million New Jersey seniors. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10]

Reduce Medicare premiums for the 1.1 million New Jersey seniors who are not enrolled in Medicare Advantage and will no longer subsidize these private insurance plans. [Senate Finance Committee]

Ensure affordable coverage options for 1.5 million New Jerseyans who are uninsured and 326,000 New Jerseyans who purchase health insurance through the individual market. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10]

Create 16,200 - 25,900 jobs by reducing health care costs for employers. [U.S. Public Interest Research Group, 1/20/10]

Allow 758,000 young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plans. [U.S. Census Bureau, 1/7/10]

Provide more federal funding for 134 Community Health Centers in New Jersey. [National Association of Community Health Centers, 2009]

There is also an analysis of each congressional district. Each is pretty similar, of course, since districts are about the sample population, so let's look at our black sheep, John Adler and NJ3 (PDF). Now, since Adler seems to only care about costs and businesses, and not citizens, I'll pick out just those kinds of benefits for his district:

Helping small businesses obtain health insurance. Under the legislation, small businesses with 100 employees or less will be able to join the health insurance exchange, benefiting from group rates and a greater choice of insurers. There are 16,000 small businesses in the district that could benefit from this provision.

Tax credits for small businesses. Small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $50,000 will qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 14,600 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for, in large part by eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and excessive profits for private insurers. The legislation will reduce the deficit by $130 billion over the next ten years, and by about $1.2 trillion over the second decade.

Financial security for families. There were 1,300 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $6,200 for individuals and $12,400 for families who purchase insurance through the exchange or who are insured by small businesses. It also eliminates annual and lifetime limits on all insurance coverage. These reforms ensure that no family will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.