A new study shows most residents of Montana with employer-based health plans would lose their current coverage under health care legislation that is currently being considered in Congress.
An analysis was commissioned by the Heritage Foundation to examine the impact to Montana residents if Congress passes the American Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The Lewin Group, a highly respected health care policy and management consulting firm, has released a study that shows under such a plan:
--62 percent of Montana residents with employer-based coverage would lose their current insurance. Of the estimated 489,200 Montana residents with private health insurance,
there would be a decline of 256,700 people with private coverage.
--52 percent of privately insured Montana residents would transition out of private insurance Of the estimated 426,900 Montana residents with employer-based coverage,
265,400 people would be shifted out of their current employer-based plan.
The study is released ahead of a major forum on Healthcare/Health Insurance Reform hosted by the Montana Policy Institute in Bozeman on August 14. In attendance at the forum will be lawmakers and policy analysts. The event is open to members of the public via pre-registration at www.montanapolicy.org. A full panel of speakers has been confirmed with a keynote address by Harvard Professor and author Regina Herzlinger.
The study further showed that 80 percent of Montana residents in a health insurance exchange would end up in thepublic plan. Of the estimated 414,100 Montana residents who would obtain coverage through an exchange, 330,500 would be covered by the public plan.
In addition, 32 percent of the uninsured in Montana would still lack coverage. Of the estimated 180,800 Montana residents without health insurance, the legislation would only reduce the uninsured by 123,200, leaving 57,600 Montana residents without coverage, according to the study.
The study also assessed the impact on the health care practitioners.
Physicians in Montana could see their net annual income decline by $36.6 million, an average loss in income of $13,877 per physician. Of this net loss in income, $129.7 million is attributable to the public plan using Medicare-based payments. Today, Medicare physician payments in Montana are 76 percent of private payments, according to the report.
Hospitals in Montana could have their net annual income fall by about $268.5 million, with hospital total margins dropping to -4 percent. This loss in hospital income, greater than total hospital margins, is overwhelmingly attributable to the public plan using Medicare-based payments. Today, Medicare hospital payments in Montana are 64 percent of private payments
A copy of the full report can be viewed at http://www.heritage.org/research/healthcare/upload/Lewin_public_plan_Montana_all.pdf
