Marc Short: It’s ‘An Absurd Oxymoron’ to Say Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments Reduce Premiums

RUSH EXCERPT:

BLITZER: "Communicated to Lamar Alexander and to Patty Murray, the co-sponsors of this current legislation. We’re not going to accept yours, but we’ve got other ideas and we’re going — have you already presented them with your ideas or you’re about to?"
SHORT: "If they haven’t received it yet, they will by tomorrow for sure."
BLITZER: "Will you make those public?"
SHORT: "Probably."
BLITZER: "And give us the gist then."
SHORT: "The gist is we believe that the individual mandate should repeal, employer mandate repeal and allow employers to contribute to the health savings accounts. Provides freedom and it provides do with your tax payer —"
BLITZER: "Repeal and replace, is that what you’re saying."
SHORT: "Reduce costs and right now, the plan as it’s constructed does not do the that."
BLITZER: "But if you eliminate these subsidies and you roll back that mandate, you’re going to lose a lot of support, and you could wind up with less than 50 which is what happened the last time."
SHORT: "What evidence is there that after several years of paying these subsidies does it reduce costs? Premiums have gone up between 100 and 200%? Continuing to pay cost-sharing reductions, it’s an oxymoron. It’s like saying jumbo shrimp, it’s an absurd oxymoron. We take tax payer dollars and give it to the insurance companies."