[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1515
    URGING TESTIMONY OF CHIEF ACTUARY AT THE CENTERS FOR MEDICAID & 
                           MEDICARE SERVICES

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last week, the Republican 
members of the Education and Labor Committee sent a letter to Chairman 
Miller asking that the chief actuary at the Medicare agency testify 
before the committee.
  The report from Richard S. Foster estimating the financial effects of 
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes a number of 
adverse implications for employer-sponsored health care plans which 
make it worthy of consideration by the committee.
  The report shows that the act will cause health expenditures to grow 
by $311 billion over the baseline projections. The report raises the 
possibility of a substantial cost shift to private payers, such as 
employer-sponsored plans, as health care providers will seek to recoup 
underpayments to the Medicaid program.
  I am concerned that small businesses would be inclined to terminate 
their existing coverage and companies with low average salaries might 
find it to their advantage to end their plans, allowing workers to 
qualify for heavily subsidized coverage at taxpayer expense.
  As a member of the committee, I urge the chairman to allow this 
request for the chief actuary to testify on this new law and its 
implications for business.

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