CBO: Obamacare Would Cost Over $2 Trillion

[bonnie]

CBO: Obamacare Would Cost Over $2 Trillion

BY Jeffrey H. Anderson

March 18, 2010 6:36 PM

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The CBO’s most recent analysis is out, and it’s not likely to convince wavering House Democrats to jump to the Obamacare side of the fence. Even the Democrats are granting that the latest version of their proposed health care overhaul would cost $69 billion more than the previous version. According to the CBO, this version would siphon even more money out of Medicare, make even further cuts to Medicare Advantage, and levy even higher taxes and fines on the American people.

President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and their allies, are cheerfully citing “ten year” costs of $940,000,000,000.00 — apparently believing this to be a far more palatable figure than $1 trillion. But even this colossal tally is like the introductory price quoted by a cell phone provider. It’s the price before you pay for minutes, fees, and overcharges — and before the price balloons after the introductory offer expires.

For a variety of reasons, this tally doesn’t remotely reflect the bill’s real ten-year costs. First, it includes 2010 as the initial year. As most people are well aware, 2010 has now been underway for some time. Therefore, the CBO would normally count 2011 as the first year of its analysis, just as it counted 2010 as the first year when analyzing the initial House health bill in the middle of 2009. But under strict instructions from Democratic leaders, and over strong objections from Republicans, the CBO dutifully scored 2010 as the first year of the latest version of Obamacare. If the clock were started in 2011, the first full year that the bill could possibly be in effect, the CBO says that the bill’s ten-year costs would be $1.2 trillion.

But even that wouldn’t come close to reflecting the bill’s true costs. The CBO projects that over the next four years, less than two percent of the bill’s alleged “ten year” costs would hit: just $17 billion of the $940 billion in costs that the Democrats are claiming. In fact, the costs through President Obama’s entire presidency, should he be reelected, would be $336 billion. What would the president leave behind for his successor? According to the CBO, he would leave behind costs of $837 billion during his successor’s first term alone. If his successor were to serve a second term, he or she would inherit a cool $2.0 trillion in Obamacare costs — about six times its costs during Obama’s own tenure. This legislation is a ticking time-bomb.

To see the bill’s true first-decade costs, we need to start the clock when the costs would actually start in any meaningful way: in 2014. The CBO says that Obamacare would cost $2.0 trillion in the bill’s real first decade (from 2014 to 2023) — and much more in the decades to come.

But $2.0 trillion wouldn’t be the total ten-year costs. Instead, that would merely be the “gross cost of coverage provisions.” Based on earlier incarnations of the proposed overhaul, the total costs would be about a third higher (the exact number can’t be gleaned from the CBO’s analysis, which is only preliminary and is not a full scoring) — making the total price-tag between $2.5 and $3 trillion over the bill’s real first decade.

How would we pay for all of this? According to the CBO, by diverting $1.1 trillion away from already barely-solvent Medicare and spending it on Obamacare, and by increasing taxes on the American people by over $1 trillion. Among the Medicare cuts would be cuts of $25,000 in Medicare Advantage benefits per enrollee — up from $21,000 in the previous scoring. To be clear, those living in South Florida wouldn’t have to worry about this, as the newly politicized nature of health care would cause them to be exempted. These cuts would affect only less-fortunate seniors, namely those living in just about any other part of the country.

[karl]

CBO: Obamacare Would Cost Over $2 Trillion

BY Jeffrey H. Anderson

But under strict instructions from Democratic leaders, and over strong objections from Republicans, the CBO dutifully scored 2010 as the first year of the latest version of Obamacare. If the clock were started in 2011, the first full year that the bill could possibly be in effect, the CBO says that the bill’s ten-year costs would be $1.2 trillion.

But even that wouldn’t come close to reflecting the bill’s true costs.

Were you expecting honesty from libs???

This is the kind of stuff we will have continuously until we get RID of them.

Call, write, email your reps and senators.

Let them know this is unacceptable.

[Jeannieb43]

And it SAVES the billion or so now being paid annually to reimburse the hospitals for medical treatment rendered free to the indigent and illegal aliens.

So, in other words, it's practically a wash.

[karl]

And it SAVES the billion or so now being paid annually to reimburse the hospitals for medical treatment rendered free to the indigent and illegal aliens.

So, in other words, it's practically a wash.

WHAT???

Do you mean those hospitals won't get paid? Or do you mean those costs will be absorbed by the nation in some other way?

Somebody is going to get stiffed for this. Contrary to popular lib belief there is no free lunch.

[bonnie]

And it SAVES the billion or so now being paid annually to reimburse the hospitals for medical treatment rendered free to the indigent and illegal aliens.

So, in other words, it's practically a wash.

How can that be.Obama said illegal aliens would not be covered.

In my math there is more than a wash difference between a billion and 2 trillion.

The relatively low number of uninsured certainly could be cared for a whole lot cheaper than 2 trillion dollars.Of course that would not gain control of our health care system

[karl]

[

The relatively low number of uninsured certainly could be cared for a whole lot cheaper than 2 trillion dollars.Of course that would not gain control of our health care system

Ahh. And there's the rub.

Anything worthwhile in this bill can be done without the bill.

They don't really want to do any of the worthwhile things, they're just throwing those things in to get people to vote for it.

Power.

That's what this is all about.

[bonnie]

Originally Posted By: bonnie

[

The relatively low number of uninsured certainly could be cared for a whole lot cheaper than 2 trillion dollars.Of course that would not gain control of our health care system

Ahh. And there's the rub.

Anything worthwhile in this bill can be done without the bill.

They don't really want to do any of the worthwhile things, they're just throwing those things in to get people to vote for it.

Power.

That's what this is all about.

I distinctly remember our "fearless leader" stridently saying "No,illegal aliens will not be covered" So why should that even be a consideration?

[karl]

Originally Posted By: karl

Anything worthwhile in this bill can be done without the bill.

I distinctly remember our "fearless leader" stridently saying "No,illegal aliens will not be covered" So why should that even be a consideration?

They want the taxpayers to pick up the bill for ALL the deadbeats (who else is going to pay for it?) That includes illegal aliens.