A Shock to None: Democrats Lied About the Cost of Obamacare
Most Americans knew that the unrealistic constraints placed upon the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) by the leftists that authored the bill meant that the CBO cost estimate of Obamacare was a fantasy.
The Health and Human Services Department just confirmed what we've known all along:It should be worrisome, but hardly unexpected. Democrats sold their political futures on cheap rhetoric and top-down bullying against the will of the majority of the American people. There is a price to pay for that, and we'll know the exact cost in November. Update: Obamacare's cuts to Medicare are already adding to health care costs in Kansas.
Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the health care remake will achieve Obama's aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million to the coverage rolls. But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, the report warned. It's a worrisome assessment for Democrats.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:56 AM
Comments
1
Even this "Estimate" is absurdly low. 1% of total cost over ten years is only $100 billion dollars. This does not include the "Doctor Fix" or the fact that they save $5oo billion from Medicare but spend it in other new programs! Doc fix is $250 B + $500B (Not saved from Medicare)+ $100B in newly discovered cost = $850B loss over ten years that the liars in DC forgot to tell us about.
Posted by: insectorudy at April 23, 2010 11:11 AM (Vo1wX)
2
I don't think anyone can really estimate the cost of this program. When they were pushing Medicare 40 years ago, the cost was estimated at a level that is now something like 10 times greater. I can assure you that to maintain the current quality of the system in the coming years, the cost will be excessive. The only way to reduce the cost will be at the expense of quality and rationing.
Posted by: David at April 23, 2010 03:30 PM (jHK8i)
3
I think Purdue has just proposed the same cost cutting measure as Kansas.
Posted by: gruntle at April 23, 2010 05:53 PM (762Lm)
4
This was known before health care reform passed.
Over the next decade, the Affordable Care Act expands coverage, and offsets the cost with a mix of new taxes and spending reductions. It's not supposed to control costs over this time. It will provide coverage to some 30 million people who don't have it, while only expanding total spending by less than one percent. That's what it's supposed to do.
Then, after 2019 the cost controls kick in and the total spending on health care will be reduced. Conservatives are attempting to draw sweeping conclusions from only half of the available information and make it fit into their anti-HCR talking points. An honest criticism would acknowledge the fact that this information was known a year ago and include post-2019 cost projections.
This demonstrates the "epistemic closure" of the conservative mind we've been hearing so much about lately.
Over the next decade, the Affordable Care Act expands coverage, and offsets the cost with a mix of new taxes and spending reductions. It's not supposed to control costs over this time. It will provide coverage to some 30 million people who don't have it, while only expanding total spending by less than one percent. That's what it's supposed to do.
Then, after 2019 the cost controls kick in and the total spending on health care will be reduced. Conservatives are attempting to draw sweeping conclusions from only half of the available information and make it fit into their anti-HCR talking points. An honest criticism would acknowledge the fact that this information was known a year ago and include post-2019 cost projections.
This demonstrates the "epistemic closure" of the conservative mind we've been hearing so much about lately.
Posted by: jm at April 24, 2010 11:51 AM (3cFcY)
5
jm,
Exactly how is the bill going to reduce cost? Do you have any idea of the complex nature of medical economics? I have seen first hand the "reduction" in cost associated with the limited interference of the Feds. The cost of the program will grow to the point that it will bankrupt the country. No matter what the bill says or the assurances of our great politicians. To believe otherwise is very naive.
Exactly how is the bill going to reduce cost? Do you have any idea of the complex nature of medical economics? I have seen first hand the "reduction" in cost associated with the limited interference of the Feds. The cost of the program will grow to the point that it will bankrupt the country. No matter what the bill says or the assurances of our great politicians. To believe otherwise is very naive.
Posted by: David at April 24, 2010 12:46 PM (jHK8i)
6
Jim has no idea how price controls will somehow control costs. His arguments are, fundamentally, just playing a shell game with words. With the ultimate goal of single payer--which also will not reduce costs until health provider price controls are put in place. Which will complete the destruction of the finest healthcare system in the world.
Posted by: iconoclast at April 25, 2010 02:20 AM (yTmCE)
7
So Jim has no idea how the bill will save costs, but the True Patriots (TM) on the right do?
Please. At least be consistent with your lying.
Please. At least be consistent with your lying.
Posted by: ChrisJ at April 26, 2010 12:05 AM (jsQWZ)
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