"Obama repeated a version of that vow during debate over the federal law, saying the legislation plus some effort to reduce costs from labor unions, and insurance, drug and medical industries “could save families $2,500 in the coming years – $2,500 per family.” That time, the administration had determined the savings in national expenditures could total $2 trillion over 10 years, and with a little math, that works out to $2,500 a year for a family of four. That assumes the savings happen, that is, and that every penny saved somehow translates to lower prices, lower taxes or higher wages for families.
It should be noted that
Obama is promising to slow the rate of growth of premiums or health care spending, so costs would still rise, but not by as much."
FactCheck.org : FactChecking Health Insurance Premiums
This is in reference to the
campaign statement I see in Spence's post was addressed above. The savings were based on a switch to IT instead of paper. He should have known that there wouldn't be full implementation and that savings wouldn't necessarily get passed on to consumers.
"Obama says his plan will "lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year," partly through the use of electronic records. But experts say large savings from health IT are unlikely to flow to consumers.
Desroches points out that the average voter may never see the savings that the RAND study postulates. "Definitely insurance companies and federal and state payers would see savings," Desroches says. "I’m not sure individuals will see savings, [except]
in the unlikely event that payers realize these savings and pass them on in the form of lower premiums."
FactCheck.org : Obama’s Inflated Health “Savings”