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Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will be meeting with local officials and constituents in Morgan, Brigham City, and Layton. He will also be holding a town hall meeting at Bridgerland Applied Technology College in Brigham City, and the meeting will be streamed online via Senator Lee’s Ustream feed, which can be watched directly on the senator’s Facebook page here.

From the Senator’s Desk

The House Ways and Means Committee is out today with a report analyzing one of the many reasons why Obamacare’s costs could skyrocket.  According to the study:

• 71 of the nation’s largest employers could save more than $28 billion in 2014 alone, and $422.4 billion over a decade, by deciding to drop health insurance coverage for their 10.2 million employees and dependents and paying the $2,000 per-employee penalty instead. 

• The average savings per firm from dropping coverage amounts to more than $400 million in 2014 alone, and $5.9 billion over a decade.

• The average savings per employee from dropping coverage amounts to $4,821 in 2014, and just under $10,000 in 2023.

• 84% of responding firms indicated they expect their health costs will increase FASTER in the future than they did before Obamacare passed.  The responding firms have faced annual increases of 5.9% over the past five years, but they expect costs to rise at a 7.6% rate in the future.

This morning’s report further reinforces the numerous prior studies, papers, briefs, reports, employer questionnaires, consultant presentations, surveys, op-eds, interviews, quotes, and comments from other prominent Democrats suggesting that employers will drop coverage in numbers far greater than the White House lets on.  Even Jon Stewart, in an interview with Secretary Sebelius in January, would not believe the Administration’s line that employers would keep offering coverage: Stewart stated that there would likely be a “big dump” by employers into Exchanges, meaning Obamacare would become “sort of, a back door, of government, not a takeover necessarily, but of a government responsibility for the health care.”

Today’s developments again raise the obvious question:  If the numbers suggest dropping coverage is a rational thing for employers to do, why will they keep offering insurance?  And if even liberals like Jon Stewart are convinced employers will dump coverage, does anyone believe they will be permitted to keep their current coverage under Obamacare?

On Twitter

SenMikeLee

I will be streaming my Brigham City townhall tonight @ 7:00 p.m. Tweet me your questions using #leetownhall: http://ustre.am/ESPP #utpol

SenLeeComs

.@SenMikeLee holding town hall TONIGHT 7pm MT. Come in person or watch LIVE online #utpol http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2012/04/30/town-hall-meetings-with-sen-lee-to-broadcast-over-internet/

SenLeePressSec

.@SenMikeLee is spending the day in Morgan, Layton, and Brigham City. Don't miss tonight's town hall at 7pm MT! http://bit.ly/HMHvUC #utpol

SenLeeResearch

Growth and growth expectations both racing downward: http://bit.ly/ICICZE #tcot #tlot #economy #GDP #jobs

Around the Water Cooler

Critics slam Senate for failing to pass a budget — three years running

Democrats in the United States Senate are facing a rush of criticism as April 29 came and went, marking the third anniversary since the Senate passed a budget under the guidance of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Solyndra Not Dealing With Toxic Waste At Milpitas Facility

Three months ago, CBS 5 caught Solyndra tossing millions of dollars worth of brand new glass tubes used to make solar panels. Now the bankrupt solar firm, once touted as a symbol of green technology, may be trying to abandon toxic waste.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will be meeting with local officials and constituents in Garden City and Logan. He will also be holding a 7:00 PM (MST) town hall meeting at the Historic Courthouse in Logan, and the meeting will be streamed online via Senator Lee’s Ustream feed, which can be watched directly on the senator’s Facebook page here.

Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee is in Utah to meet with constituents.

From the Senator’s Desk

The Huffington Post reported late Friday that, effective today, the Administration is ending a program giving $100 fees to insurance agents and brokers that refer customers to Obamacare’s new high-risk pool for individuals with pre-existing conditions.  Last May, the Administration instituted a $100 broker referral fee in an attempt to increase otherwise underwhelming enrollment in the high-risk pool program.  One individual active among insurance brokers provided an interesting explanation as to why the Administration discontinued the referral fee program: “They [i.e., the Administration] said enrollment’s up to where we want it to be, basically, and we don’t need your [i.e., brokers’] services anymore.” 

According to the most recent data released by the Administration, 56,257 individuals with pre-existing conditions are enrolled in the federal high-risk pool program established under Obamacare.  Six states have enrollment of fewer than 100 individuals – the District of Columbia’s pool, for instance, has but 44 enrollees.  The current enrollment data do not come anywhere close to earlier projections – the Medicare actuary originally projected enrollment at 375,000 individuals in 2010, and Congressional Budget Office estimated up to 700,000 individuals would attempt to enroll in the program by next year.

Two key points follow from the underwhelming enrollment in the pre-existing condition coverage, and the Administration’s claims enrollment is satisfactory:

1. It’s difficult for the Administration to argue that 129 million individuals have pre-existing conditions and “could be denied affordable coverage.”  The 56,257 individuals enrolled in the new federal high-risk pool as of February 29 represent only .04% of the total number of Americans the Administration claimed suffer from pre-existing conditions. 

2. Obamacare spends $2.6 trillion in its first decade of full implementation, largely to ensure that those with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage.  At this rate and based on these metrics – $2.6 trillion in spending, and 56,257 participants – the federal government will spend $4,621,647.08 per year for every person with pre-existing conditions newly enrolled in coverage.  That’s not just enough money to buy each person with pre-existing conditions a platinum-plated insurance policy – that’s enough to buy each one a small hospital.

That the Administration is content with high-risk pool enrollment of just over 50,000 persons with pre-existing conditions shows that the problem of individuals with pre-existing conditions is real, but not insurmountable.  More to the point, it doesn’t take a 2700-page, $2.6 trillion law the American people didn’t need or want – taking away the health coverage of millions in the process – to provide access to about 56,000 individuals with chronic or pre-existing conditions.

On Twitter

SenMikeLee

Senator Mike Lee TV is my Ustream Channel. I will stream town hall events here May 1 and May 2 @ 7 p.m. MST: http://ustre.am/ESPP #utpol

SenLeeComs

Finally! A win for common sense: Obama DOL Withdraws Radical Farm Labor Rule http://1.usa.gov/JMfD60 @SenJohnThune

SenLeePressSec

Flat Stanley came to visit all the way from Sunrise Elementary in Smithfield, #Utah! #flatstanley http://pic.twitter.com/XU2IYvej

SenLeeResearch

Growth and growth expectations both racing downward: http://bit.ly/ICICZE #tcot #tlot #economy #GDP #jobs

Around the Water Cooler

With an asterisk, WTC is back as tallest skyscraper in New York City

One World Trade Center, the giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, will lay claim to the title of New York City’s tallest skyscraper on Monday. Workers will erect steel columns that will make its unfinished skeleton a little over 1,250 feet high, just enough to peak over the roof of the observation deck on the Empire State Building.

Wind farms are warming the earth, researchers say

New research finds that wind farms actually warm up the surface of the land underneath them during the night, a phenomena that could put a damper on efforts to expand wind energy as a green energy solution.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will be meeting with local officials and constituents in Morgan, Brigham City, and Layton. He will also be holding a town hall meeting at Bridgerland Applied Technology College in Brigham City, and the meeting will be streamed online via Senator Lee’s Ustream feed, which can be watched directly on the senator’s Facebook page here.