What happened to cheaper health care?

Last December, while campaigning for his proposed comprehensive health care bill, President Obama promised, “When it becomes law, families will save on their premiums.” After he signed the proposal into law, he warned the health insurance industry not to hike premiums due to higher costs resulting from the law. He said, “We'll be watching closely.”

The president's fist statement has turned out to be untrue; as to his second, if he truly is watching the industry, his vision is severely impaired.

Recently, my family received the 2011 plan brochure from our health insurance company, the Mail Handlers Benefit Plan. Our monthly premium for the “Standard Option, Self and Family,” increased from $396.29 to $523.47, which is a whopping 32 percent increase.

The company attributes most of the premium increase to the new law's requirements to cover additional high-cost medical conditions and procedures and to include certain adult children on their parents' policies.

In effect, the health care law operates as an indirect tax, in which the government redistributes wealth. Under this law, the government compels the insurance industry to provide costly health care services to favored classes of people, and those costs are then passed onto those who pay the premiums but don't use the more costly services. Most of us will not qualify for government subsidies or an income tax credit for the increased premiums.

Seniors living on fixed incomes will be the most adversely affected by the higher premiums because of decreases to Medicare, limits upon the Medicare Advantage program, and the fact that there will be no cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security benefits in 2011.

On Nov. 2, we voters began a process of cleansing Washington of nonresponsive politicians who fancy themselves as “social engineers.” Hopefully, we will finish the process in 2012.

Greg Guckenberger

Batavia