Health care reform was supposed to lower health care spending while expanding access for the uninsured. Instead, though Obamacare will cost taxpayers trillions, it will do little to address the rising cost of care. The government overhaul will not only have large and immediate negative effects for Americans of every ilk, but will have severe implications for future generations, amassing more federal debt to kick down the road to tomorrow’s taxpayers. In a recent paper, Heritage expert James Capretta lays out the several ways in which Obamacare will add to, …
As Heritage analysts have noted time and again, spending from congressional liberals’ health care proposals would be in the trillions, growing the federal deficit. The President has proposed a modification of the Senate bill with provisions that would make it even more expensive. At last week’s Health Care Summit, hosted by the White House, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) echoed these same concerns over the true cost of the President’s proposal for health care reform. Thus far, neither the President nor the leaders of Congress- not one- have responded to Ryan’s …
From the start the president’s health care cost estimates were much too modest. Here’s why: First, the administration’s accountants left off the books nearly a quarter-trillion dollars in what’s called the “Doc Fix”. Originally, the formula was designed to prevent total Medicare physician spending from growing faster than the Medicare population, the economy, and the amount necessary to implement changes in benefit coverage. The problem is, every year since 2002 physician groups have successfully lobbied to delay the cuts so that we now face a 10-year $247 billion measure to …
The vote looming in the Senate to raise the debt limit should serve as a wake-up call that federal spending is out of control. Instead, Democratic leadership has tried to convince Americans that passing costly health care legislation is not only sensible, but requisite, and must be done now. Neither is true. The bills use weak spending limits, weak tax provisions, and even weaker cuts to current spending to pay for reform. Democrats claim these provisions mean that the massive health bill will not only be paid for, but will …
While House and Senate leaders negotiate over the final version of a health care bill, they seem to have forgotten one thing: many of them, including the President, pledged to deny support to any bill which would add to the federal deficit. Until now, budgetary gimmicks have hidden the true cost of the health care bills, but neither chamber of Congress has succeeded at creating a bill which is deficit neutral and falls under $900 billion—the limit set by President Obama himself . In a recent paper, Heritage expert James …
President Barack Obama again asserted today that his health care plan would be deficit neutral chiding: “The argument that opponents are making against this bill does not hold water.” But while the President’s most ardent supporters are trying to explain to each other why the benefits of the bill do not start until 2014, they are openly admitting that Obama’s deficit busting claims are complete fiction: The Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein: “The delay is a budget trick, an attempt to lower the 10-year cost of the bill at the expense …
The Washington Post editorial board writes on the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act tucked into Obamacare: But both the Congressional Budget Office and the chief actuary for the Medicare program have expressed misgivings. The Medicare actuary, Richard S. Foster, cited “a very serious risk”: Adverse selection — sicker people signing up for the program and the healthier staying away — “would make the CLASS program unsustainable.” He said that even beginning premiums would have to be $240 a month. Likewise, CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf warned that …
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled his 2,074 page health care bill with claims that the massive measure falls under the $900 billion cost threshold promised by the President. To put it charitably, the truth is more complicated. The bill depends on budget gimmicks and unrealistic assumptions and projected savings to reach this goal over the 10 year budget window. Consider the four most outrageous “Budget Tricks”. By its construction, the bill: Excludes the Costly “Doctor Fix”. Like the House bill, the Senate bill conveniently ignores the over $200 billion …
The 2074 page Reid Health Bill (H.R. 3590) generally follows the Senate Finance and HELP versions on Medicaid and in the creation of a new health care program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. Curiously, in the short term (2010-2013), the Reid bill helps fewer people gain coverage than the Senate Finance bill. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates 2 million will lose Medicaid/SCHIP coverage each year in this period compared to current law. But, by 2019, Medicaid/SCHIP enrollment will increase by 15 million, accounting for nearly …
On August 6th, Michigan resident Mike Sola confronted Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) at a health care townhall about H.R. 3200′s effect on his son Scott. It is unclear from the exchange if Scott, who is confined to a wheelchair and has cerebral palsy, is enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid. But Rep. Dingell did follow up Mr. Sola’s questions with a letter dated August 11th. Unfortunately the letter is non-responsive to Mr. Sola’s concerns. Here is what Dingell wrote:
