New Report on National Health Expenditures

The CMS Office of the Actuary (OACT) released an update today regarding their annual National Health Expenditures report.  The Office of the Actuary does a report on National Health expenditures annually every March.  This year, when they put out their report, they indicated that Congress was poised to enact the health reform law and that they intended to publish an update after they had reviewed the law.  This is that update.  It is consistent with OACT’s earlier analysis of the law that was submitted to Congress by Rick Foster of the Office of the Actuary in April. 

Today’s report by the Office of the Actuary confirms a central point of the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama:  The Act will make health care more affordable for Americans. In fact, the Actuary’s report indicates that total health care spending per insured American will be more than $1000 lower thanks to the provisions of the new law than it would have been if Congress and the President had not acted.

Specifically, by 2019, overall health spending per insured person will average $14,720 instead of the $16,120 projected by the Actuary before the Act was enacted into law.  This is great news for many Americans.  More good news for American consumers:  The Actuary predicts out of pocket spending on health care services per person will decline an average of 6% to $1,310, a savings of $80 per person per year.  This means more money in people’s pockets.

Finally, the Actuary’s report confirms that 33 million Americans who are living without health insurance today will gain coverage.  While this will result in a short-term increase in spending (as uninsured people begin to receive the care they have postponed or gone without), the rate of growth in spending will slow in the second half of this decade. A close look at this report’s data suggest that for average Americans, the Affordable Care Act will live up to its promise.
 

Nancy-Ann DeParle is the Director of the White House Office of Health Reform

President Obama on the Economy in Cleveland: "The America I Believe In"

This afternoon the President was in Cleveland, Ohio, the city where House Republican Leader Boehner recently put forth his party’s priorities for the economy.  In his remarks,  the President laid out a stark contrast between policies that help the economy work for the middle class, and the policies that allowed special interests to run amok -- and to run our economy into a ditch.  He spoke about the need to strengthen our recovery in both the short and long terms by investing in America’s roads, bridges and runways, by helping small businesses grow and hire, and by giving certainty to businesses through a permanent incentive to innovate and create good jobs in America in the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit.

But before all that he talked about the foundation of the values that guide his decisions:

Yes, our families believed in the American values of self-reliance and individual responsibility, and they instilled those values in their children.  But they also believed in a country that rewards responsibility.  A country that rewards hard work.  A country built upon the promise of opportunity and upward mobility.   

They believed in an America that gave my grandfather the chance to go to college because of the GI Bill.  An America that gave my grandparents the chance to buy a home because of the Federal Housing Authority.  An America that gave their children and grandchildren the chance to fulfill our dreams thanks to college loans and college scholarships.

It was an America where you didn’t buy things you couldn’t afford; where we didn’t just think about today – we thought about tomorrow.  An America that took pride in the goods it made, not just in the things it consumed.  An America where a rising tide really did lift all boats, from the company CEO to the guy on the assembly line.

That’s the America I believe in.  That’s what led me to work in the shadow of a shuttered steel plant on the South Side of Chicago when I was a community organizer.  It’s what led me to fight for factory workers at manufacturing plants that were closing across Illinois when I was a Senator.  It’s what led me to run for President – because I don’t believe we can have a strong and growing economy without a strong and growing middle-class. 

The audience listens as President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy at Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, Ohio September 8, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

The Affordable Care Act Did Not Cause Unjust Premium Increases

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that some health insurance companies are blaming the Affordable Care Act for premium increases that were planned long before the law was passed. We knew this would happen, which is why the President called on insurance companies not to use the Affordable Care Act as an excuse to implement unreasonable premium increases. In fact, when one insurance company in the State of Washington was called out for telling its beneficiaries that rate increases were due to the Affordable Care Act, that company agreed to issue a new letter clarifying the reasons for the increase.

The premium increases discussed today – many of which were planned before the Affordable Care Act was even signed into law– demonstrate that reform came at a critical time.  In fact, consumers have faced unreasonable double digit premium increases for more than a decade, including employer-sponsored plans where premiums have more than doubled since 2000. 

DOT, EPA Invite Public Input on New Vehicle Fuel Economy Window Stickers

Cross posted from the Department of Transportation blog.

Together, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency have produced a new vehicle fuel economy label, and we want your feedback on our two proposed designs.

A year ago I blogged that putting millions more fuel-efficient cars, SUVs, and small trucks on the road is a huge step forward toward US energy independence. Well, now that the Obama Administration has taken that step forward with fuel economy standards for model years 2012 through 2016, a new generation of vehicles is hitting the market.

But, as new technologies like battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids have become increasingly available, fuel economy and environmental information has become increasingly complicated. Our current label just won't cut it anymore.

That's why, beginning with the 2012 model year, DOT and EPA want to use a new fuel economy label. We need a label that captures energy and emissions information in a way that helps vehicle buyers make better-informed decisions.

Open for Questions: Boosting the Recovery with Austan Goolsbee

Today, President Obama will speak in Cleveland, Ohio about his vision for the future of the American economy and about specific ways to move our economy forward.  Earlier today, Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer previewed the President’s remarks and laid out the three additional steps the President is proposing to help grow the economy and help businesses spur hiring.

You can watch the speech live on WhiteHouse.gov/live.  Immediately following the President’s remarks, Austan Goolsbee of the Council of Economic Advisers will be answering your questions about the economy.  Be sure to tune in and join the discussion on Facebook.

Live Stream: The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison

While the economy remains the President's central focus, which he will discuss again tomorrow in Cleveland, the First Lady continues to celebrate America's cultural heritage amongst her many other issues, from military families to tackling childhood obesity.  First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the White House Music Series more than a year ago with The Jazz Studio, describing it as an event that "exemplifies what I think the White House, the People's House, should be about. This is a place to honor America's past, celebrate its present and create its future. And that's why all of you all are here today. It's about you, the future.” Today, Mrs. Obama will welcome dance students and world-renowned dancers for the Administration’s first event celebrating dance. Featuring American dance from ballet to hip hop,

The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison will honor Jamison for her outstanding career as an American dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the past 20 years.

Watch the White House Dance Series at 5:00 p.m. EDT right here on WhiteHouse.gov/Live or watch and discuss it over at Facebook.

President Proposes New Jobs, Renewed Infrastructure

Yesterday I had the great honor of joining President Obama in Milwaukee to celebrate Labor Day. And it was a pleasure hearing his historic announcement of $50 billion in job-creating transportation infrastructure investments.

Infrastructure investments in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have already shown terrific results, and it makes good sense to continue.

Photo of the Day: August 2010

Regular visitors are probably familiar with the Photo of the Day, a special pick selected by Pete Souza and the White House Photo Office daily.  But you may not have realized that each one is loaded up as part of a gallery for that month, and as it turns out, looking back through the photos of the day is a pretty interesting way to recap the month.  The gallery for August is below -- President Obama talks with soliders at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas as the combat mission in Iraq comes to a close; tours a new housing development in New Orleans, Louisiana five years after Hurricane Katrina; signs Elena Kagan's commission in the Oval Office before celebrating her confirmation to the Supreme Court; welcomes recipents of the 2010 Presidential Citizen's Medal to the White House; and takes a dip with Sasha at Alligator Point in Panama City Beach, Florida.

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Let's Stop Torturing Facts and Start Working Together

Lindsay Graham has often shown that he’s fully capable of being reasonable and bipartisan. Which made it particularly disappointing to see his misleading use of numbers yesterday.  

On Meet the Press, the Senator, against a wave of evidence to the contrary, argued that the Recovery Act has been “an absolute disaster” and called for cancelling “a lot” of what’s left in the bill (transcript here). 

His evidence for this claim: “...we’ve lost two-and-a-half million jobs since the stimulus passed.”

Take a look at the figure below and you’ll see why this is so misleading. He’s conflating two periods of very different employment trends. In the first, when his team’s policies dominated, employment hemorrhaged at nightmarish rates. In the second, when the Recovery Act was on the scene, job losses in the private sector began to diminish, and this year, turned positive.