The Congressional Democrats have been very insidious in their presentation of the latest health care “reform” bill. By playing a shell game with the numbers, they are able to project the costs as much lower than they will actually be. By their estimates, the combined House and Senate bills would come in at around $1 trillion over the next decade.
What tricks are they using? Well by requiring individuals and employers to purchase health insurance, much of the legislation’s cost is dumped onto the private sector. In other words, the bills treat this cost as neither a tax, nor an expenditure, thereby hiding about 60% of the costs. The CBO did not do this to the Clinton bill in the ‘90s. As Michael Cannon, from the Cato Institute says, by correcting for this, the bill actually comes in at $2.5 trillion.
Another trick used by Congressional Democrats is having the new entitlement not start right away, (even though the taxes will begin immediately). Correcting for this deviousness also brings the bill in at $2.5 trillion over 10 years (2014-2023). Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) alerted us to this fact.
Other tricks used by the Congressional Democrats are making the bills so large and containing thousands of pages, thereby making it much easier to hide things that they don’t want the public to see; rushing bills through and voting late at night on the weekends to get the vote done with the least press coverage possible; and strong arm tactics on the moderates that do not always tow the party line. I know these tactics are nothing new to politics, but really shouldn’t all politicians be held accountable?
For a bit of perspective on this issue, let’s jump in the way back machine and listen to the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives talk on January 14, 2005.
Well, let’s get back to the costs of health care “reform” being proposed. Basically, here is the kicker: when BOTH tricks are corrected for and the actual numbers are run, then the cost slides in at a whopping $6.25 trillion!!!! It is odd that the Democrats overlooked this little factor when presenting their bills to the American Public. One can only hope that the American electorate will overlook the Congressional Democrats’ names come election time.
Hat tip to Cato@Liberty.org
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Well said Don. I think the tricks would be more understandable if they hadn’t said that they were NOT going to do such things. What ever happened to transparency, posting bills for the public to view, vetoing earmarks, bipartisanship, and the most ethical Congress since the beginning of the world?
I believe all those things fell victim to hopeandchangeitis. It is a new medical term describing the inflammation, or redness and irritation of the citizenry when they are lied to over and over.
Isn’t hopeandchangeitis a fungus? Just saying.
Sounds like standard operating procedure to me. Time after time, we see Congress do things and manipulate the numbers to hide the real cost to the American taxpayers. Just once, I would like to see Congress held responsible for such tactics.
Slight of hand hell! They are practicing outright fraud on the American people. They really must think that most Americans are blind and stupid and you know what, they may be right.
So, what passes as health care is OK….not in any need of revision?
Do we allow the health insurance company ’s to continue to make a killing at the expense of America? I’m not in favor of everything in this bill, but to do nothing as our so-called republican lawmakers are is not the answer.
Folks, I let a moonbat through. I’ll take care of it.
For starters, you did not at all respond to the content of the post, but that’s typical. Redefining an argument you cannot win is probably all that you have.
So, if you’d like to put you talking points down for a moment…
1. Insurance company profits, industry wide, are just over 2%.
2. The Republicans have offered multiple plans, all were rejected out of hand without debate (so much for bipartisanship).
3. The media conveniently ignored the fact that the republicans offered anything, and did not report it.
4. Even this blog offered a plan, if you’d bother to actually read anything here.
So sparky, how do you respond to the hidden costs of the plan?
Well said.