STRAIGHT FROM THE SENATE

OBAMACARE NOT HEALTHY FOR HOOSIER JOBS

Indiana’s growing life sciences sector may be hurt badly

by State Sen. David Long (R-Fort Wayne)

STATEHOUSE – One of the most painful truths about President Barack Obama’s recently passed health care legislation is the impact it may have on Hoosier jobs. For example, a growing and job-creating life sciences sector in Indiana will be among the hardest hit industries as a result of massive new taxes.
In this, the second of our two-part look at Obamacare, we examine what the historic bill might mean for Indiana employment, Hoosier health care providers and those who currently have health insurance.
New taxes under the plan include at least $20 billion for medical device manufacturers and $90 billion for pharmaceutical companies. These will directly impact Hoosier employers like DePuy, Inc. in Warsaw (employs 3,500 Hoosiers), Eli Lilly in multiple locations around Indiana (employs 14,700 Hoosiers); and Medtronic, Inc. in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Evansville (employs 500 Hoosiers).

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Caterpillar, Inc. which employs more than 2,000 Hoosiers at its plant in Lafayette and elsewhere, made national headlines when it announced that Obamacare would cost them $100 million per year in new health-care expenses.

Worse, a job killing tax of $2,000 per employee will be levied on many Indiana companies which cannot afford to provide coverage to their employees. Many Hoosier businesses are struggling to survive the deep national recession as it is. This new expense will likely force some to consider closing their doors or lay off their workers.

Obama’s bill, as presented to the Congressional Budget Office, includes multiple accounting gimmicks and hidden expenses designed to disguise the true cost of the bill. When the gimmicks are dropped and all costs are added, the bill is estimated to add between $2.4 and $2.6 trillion in spending and increase the deficit by $662 billion over ten years.

When that money is added to the current record national debt, total U.S. debt would be approximately $13.2 trillion. To cover that cost, every person in America would owe approximately $43,000. Indiana’s 6.4 million residents would owe a combined $275.2 billion…plus interest.

Just days before its passage, sweeping student loan changes that could negatively impact Indiana were added to the Obamacare bill. Under the now-passed legislation, national student loan provider Sallie Mae would lose its ability to originate loans. The change could force the company to cut nearly one-third of its 8,600 employees nationwide. Indiana is home to more Sallie Mae jobs than any other state – more than 2,400 at its Fishers and Muncie offices – meaning Hoosiers and Hoosier hometowns will likely be hit especially hard by any cuts.

Also troubling is that Obamacare will reportedly slash reimbursements for Medicare patients to physicians by 21 percent and hospitals will be cut by $1.3 billion. According to reports, tens of thousands of doctors and health-care institutions – hospitals, hospices, clinics and offices – may refuse to treat Medicare patients altogether.

Recently, Walgreens announced 121 drugstores across Washington state will no longer accept new Medicaid patients, because their prescriptions are money-losing propositions. Without costly increases in Medicaid provider reimbursement rates paid for by taxpayers, expect similar announcements by healthcare and pharmaceutical providers in other states, including Indiana.

The world-renowned Mayo Clinic made national headlines earlier this year when it announced it would stop accepting Medicare patients at one of its primary-care clinics, because it was losing money on those patients.

Meanwhile, many Indiana residents are expected to pay higher premiums under Obamacare.

The CBO estimates an average increase nationally of $2,100 for some families and a study of the effects among Hoosiers showed premium increases ranging up to 78 percent.

Allowing children to remain on their parents’ policies until age 26 sounds good until costs versus benefits are considered.  Advocates are careful not to mention additional premiums these insured will cost, nor do they disclose this age group is among the least likely to require extensive health-care treatment. In short, it is another cost shift to help pay for Obamacare’s giveaways.

Sen. David Long (R-Fort Wayne) is President Pro Tem of the Indiana Senate. He serves District 16, which includes portions of Fort Wayne.