ASPE Report on WFTCL Impacts on Health Care Costs

The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) Office of Health Policy on Aug. 12 released an overview on the impact of the Working Families Tax Cut legislation (WFTCL) on health care costs.

The report analyzes state directed payments and provider tax provisions on Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial coverage spending.

ASPE projects WFTCL provisions will reduce non-Medicaid prices by up to 3.5%. The office also estimates these provisions will save the federal government an additional $97-169 billion beyond the savings from lower Medicaid expenditures, and reduce total federal health spending by an average of 2.9 to 5.1% after the provisions are fully phased in.

ASPE believes these changes will decrease health care prices for non-Medicaid consumers and increase health care utilization for nearly 280 million people. This is because it would decrease premiums and increase uptake of non-Medicaid coverage by employers and through the marketplace.

Contact Director of Policy Rob Nelb, MPH, at [email protected] or 202.585.0127 with questions.