The Obamacare Deficit Fraud

President Obama has been barnstorming the country saying that CBO scores his health care takeover plan as reducing the deficit by over $100 billion in the first 10 years, and by almost a trillion dollars over the second 10 years.  What is that based on?

Wading deep into documents available from CBO and the House and Senate Budget Committees reveals that the claim that Obamacare, in the form of the Senate health bill Democrats are now trying to deem through the House, would reduce the deficit is based on the assumption of an immediate 21% cut in payments to doctors and hospitals under Medicare.  But that is just the beginning.

The growth of these payments would be arbitrarily limited over time, so this cut would effectively become bigger and bigger.  For the second 10 years, the claim that Obamacare would reduce the deficit by close to a trillion dollars is based on assumed Medicare cuts over those years of over $2 trillion.

This would cause havoc and chaos in health care for America’s seniors.  They would often not be able to find doctors, specialists and hospitals to provide needed health care.  Most enjoying superior coverage from Medicare Advantage plans would lose that coverage, as indicated by the Chief Actuary for Medicare.  Investment in new health care technology, new breakthrough medical treatments and services, and new miracle cure drugs would dry up, which has already started.

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Tags: CBO health care score, health care, health reform, Nancy Pelosi, ObamaCare
Posted Mar 19th 2010 at 5:47 am in Congress, Economics, Healthcare, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 9210656 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/pferrara/2010/03/19/the-obamacare-deficit-fraud/The+Obamacare+Deficit+Fraud2010-03-19+12%3A47%3A43Peter+Ferrara

Rigging the Healthcare Debate with Dishonest Numbers

President Obama and congressional Democrats are claiming that a giant new entitlement program will reduce red ink.  It’s tempting to laugh and dismiss such a preposterous claim. After all, these are the same people who told us that squandering $787 billion on a so-called stimulus would create jobs. Unfortunately, the joke’s on us. According to the “official” scoring estimates on Capitol Hill, Obamacare supposedly will lower the deficit because taxes are being increased more than spending is being increased (not that this should matter since America’s fiscal crisis is spending and deficits are merely a symptom). But these numbers, produced by the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation, are highly suspect. I’ve explained elsewhere why the spending projections from the CBO are grossly flawed, and many other experts have made similar observations. The same problem exists on the revenue side of the ledger.  This video explains why we should be very skeptical of any numbers produced by the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Let’s put this in context by reviewing the supposedly nonpartisan numbers that the JCT has produced. The Senate bill has big tax increases on insurance companies, medical device makers, and so-called cadillac health plans. The House plan, meanwhile, largely relies on higher income tax rates on investors and entrpreneurs. And both bills impose huge marginal tax rate increases on middle class taxpayers thanks to the phase out of subsidies, as explained in gruesome detail by my Cato Institue colleage Michael Cannon.

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Tags: CBO, Congressional Budget Office, Dynamic scoring, government-run healthcare, health care
Posted Mar 17th 2010 at 6:15 am in Big Labor, Congress, Economics, Featured Story, Healthcare, News, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized, federal spending | 90806112 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2010/03/17/rigging-the-healthcare-debate-with-dishonest-numbers/Rigging+the+Healthcare+Debate+with+Dishonest+Numbers2010-03-17+13%3A15%3A56Dan+Mitchell

ObamaCare: Should Republicans Have Negotiated on Health Care Bill?

Writing for Forbes, Bruce Bartlett puts forth an interesting hypothesis that healthcare legislation could have been made better (hopefully he meant to write “less destructive”) if the GOP had been willing to compromise with Democrats:

Democrats desperately wanted a bipartisan bill and would have given a lot to get a few Republicans on board. This undoubtedly would have led to enactment of a better health bill than the one we are likely to get. But Republicans never put forward an alternative health proposal. Instead, they took the position that our current health system is perfect just as it is.

Bruce makes several compelling points in the article, especially when he notes that it will be virtually impossible to repeal a bad bill after 2010 or 2012, but there are good reasons to disagree with his analysis. First, he is wrong in stating that Republicans were united against any compromise. Several GOP senators spent months trying to negotiate something less objectionable, but those discussions were futile. Also, I’m not sure it’s correct to assert Republicans took a the-current-system-is-perfect position.

They may not have offered a full alternative (they did have a few good reforms such as allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines), but their main message was that the Democrats were going to make the current system worse. Strikes me as a perfectly reasonable position, one that I imagine Bruce shares. But let’s further explore Bruce’s core hypothesis: Would compromise have generated a better bill? It’s possible, to be sure, but there are also several reasons why that approach may have backfired:

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Tags: Ben Nelson, Bruce Bartlett, Charles Grassley, health reform, Healthcare
Posted Jan 2nd 2010 at 9:23 am in Congress, Politics | 54698251 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2010/01/02/should-republicans-have-negotiated-on-health-care-bill/ObamaCare%3A+Should+Republicans+Have+Negotiated+on+Health+Care+Bill%3F2010-01-02+17%3A23%3A29Dan+Mitchell

Science, Smoking, Healthcare, All Prove Gov’t Can’t be Trusted

Just sit back and let big daddy government show you the way. The Democrat Party is assuring us that they know better because they have science, educated people, doctors and all that “expertise” in their control. Further more they “care” about us all and they want us to know that they’d never do anything to lead us astray.

If you feel like the con is about to begin, you are right.

Of course, we don’t need mere suspicion to divine that the Democrats are liars. We can look at what government and Democrats have already done in several related areas — science, smoking and healthcare — to prove that this newest attempt to “help” us is based on lies, smoke and mirrors.

Let us begin with science. In two areas we see the failure that Democrats perpetuate even with science as their justification: global warming and healthcare.

We are all by now familiar with the lies that global warming is based upon, as revealed by the scheming to hide failure of the science that went on behind the scenes with the email correspondence of the “scientists” at the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The science went from settled “consensus” to “ClimateGate” in only a matter of weeks. Yet governments all across the globe have based their policies on these lies. Total failure.

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Tags: alternative medicine, government accountability office, health care reform, health reform, medicaid liability
Posted Dec 16th 2009 at 7:41 am in Congress, Economics, Healthcare, Justice/Legal, Obama | 46118103 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/wthuston/2009/12/16/science-smoking-healthcare-all-prove-govt-cant-be-trusted/Science%2C+Smoking%2C+Healthcare%2C+All+Prove+Gov%27t+Can%27t+be+Trusted2009-12-16+15%3A41%3A01Warner+Todd++Huston

The Official Forecasts Are Nonsense: Obamacare Would Be a Budget Buster

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the government-run healthcare plans in the House and Senate will reduce budget deficits. To use a technical phrase, this is utter nonsense. A giant new entitlement program will be a budget buster. This new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity provides 12 reasons in less than 6-1/2 minutes – including real-world evidence showing how Medicare and Medicaid cost far more than originally forecast.

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Tags: Big Government, budget, CBO, Dynamic scoring, Estimates
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 2:03 pm in Congress, Economics, Healthcare, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized | 2826217 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2009/11/10/the-official-forecasts-are-nonsense-obamacare-would-be-a-budget-buster/The+Official+Forecasts+Are+Nonsense%3A+Obamacare+Would+Be+a+Budget+Buster2009-11-10+21%3A03%3A46Dan+Mitchell

Republicans Plan Second Rally To Defeat Health Care Bill

After holding the first successful “House Call” yesterday, Republican Congressmen Steve King (R-IA) and Michele Bachmann (R-MN) are pleased to announce a second rally in the nations capitol tomorrow.

Second “House Call” Event Planned For Tomorrow.

King Calls on American People to Come to Washington and Kill PelosiCare

Congressman Steve King today made the following statement urging American citizens to descend on Washington to kill ‘Pelosi Care’.

“Nancy Pelosi and Washington liberals cannot ignore what transpired yesterday in Washington. Americans from every state stormed Capitol Hill. They took over the Hill. And they loudly chanted ‘Kill this bill!’ “We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care. We need the help of every American willing to stand up for freedom and liberty. I urge all Americans who oppose this bill to come to Washington tomorrow morning and join us to stop this bill.”

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Tags: government health care, health reform, insurance mandate, Nancy Pelosi, ObamaCare
Posted Nov 6th 2009 at 3:35 pm in Congress, Healthcare, Politics | 26806129 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sgor/2009/11/06/republicans-plan-second-rally-to-defeat-health-care-bill/Republicans+Plan+Second+Rally+To+Defeat+Health+Care+Bill2009-11-06+22%3A35%3A36Sergio+Gor

Committee Confirms: Comply With Pelosi-Care Or Go To Jail

From the House Ways and Means Republicans:

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail.  The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

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Tags: government health care, health reform, insurance mandate, Nancy Pelosi, Obama Care
Posted Nov 6th 2009 at 1:36 pm in Congress, Healthcare, Politics | 26766475 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/06/committee-confirms-comply-with-pelosi-care-or-go-to-jail/Committee+Confirms%3A+Comply+With+Pelosi-Care+Or+Go+To+Jail2009-11-06+20%3A36%3A27Publius

Thousands Attend Pelosi-Care Protest: Ten Arrested at Capitol Hill Sit-In

Special to Big Government from Helen Rittelmeyer, The Daily Caller:

Capitol Police arrested ten people on the second floor of the Cannon House Office Building at a sit-in this afternoon.  The demonstrators had crowded into the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a print-out of the health care bill, intending to tear up the bill in protest.

“It was a mess.  There was paper all over the hallway,” said Jeanette Beam, who traveled from Georgia to join the protest.  “They took a little old lady away in plastic handcuffs.”

The arrests, which happened a little before three o’clock, prompted plenty of chatter but little surprise.  Earlier in the day, an organizer with a megaphone had explained the plan for the sit-in.  “The police know we’re coming,” he announced.  “No one has to get arrested if they don’t want to.”

The protesters were part of a crowd of 10,000 that gathered on Capitol Hill to protest the Democratic health care bill.  The “emergency house call” was initiated by Rep. Michele Bachmann and organized by Americans for Prosperity.

Bachmann greeted the crowd from the Capitol steps: “You came.  You came to your House.”  When her remarks were interrupted by a chant of “Kill the bill,” Bachmann joked, “Oh, don’t hold back.  Tell them how you really feel!”  She continued, “Kill the bill – that’s exactly what you’re going to tell them.”

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Tags: Cannon House Office Building, Capitol Hill Police, health insurance reform, health reform, John Ratzenberger
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 8:59 pm in Congress, Healthcare, Obama | 2637086 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mrittelmeyer/2009/11/05/pelosi-care-protest-ten-arrested-at-capitol-hill-sit-in/Thousands+Attend+Pelosi-Care+Protest%3A+Ten+Arrested+at+Capitol+Hill+Sit-In2009-11-06+03%3A59%3A35Helen+++Rittelmeyer

We Will March on Washington

If there were a Death Panel empowered by legislative fiat to determine the political viability of legislative agendas in Washington, D.C., it would declare ObamaCare all but dead, not worth any further time and expense incurred by the American people.  “Do Not Resuscitate,” the tribunal would vote, citing the best comparative effectiveness research in its non-negotiable determination.

Unfortunately, that merciful committee does not exist, so we have been subjected to yet another clarifying speech from President Obama on his proposed hostile government takeover of our health care.  In just a few weeks, we have gone from “health care reform” to “insurance reform,” and now “health security.”  Is it just me, or does this White House simply repackage the very same bad ideas with more carefully chosen new words, confusing rhetorical elegance for good policy?  Ok, maybe less rhetorically elegant than once believed.

Regardless, the timing of last night’s hastily arranged speech before a joint session of Congress was weird.  Such special sessions are themselves weird, exceedingly rare forums usually reserved for dramatic effect, like when Presidents declare war.  The glaring exception, it seems, was Bill Clinton’s ill-fated, pen-wagging veto threat to Congress if they failed to pass his (Hillary’s) health care plan.  So why did Obama do it?  Why now?  According to USA Today before his speech, “the ever more noisy opposition to his health care objectives has had one result: It prompted Obama’s decision to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday in an effort to regain momentum on the issue.”

So the President wants to have another argument with the voters. He already has ridiculed publicly citizens who have the audacity to disagree, like the lady who asked him to keep government out of her Medicare. (Maybe she was referring to his proposed $500 billion in cuts from a system that is already $46 trillion in the red, to fund another government-run health care system for new populations?)

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Tags: Bill Clinton, DC, Dick Armey, Freedom Plaze, health insurance
Posted Sep 12th 2009 at 6:50 am in Economics, News, Politics, Tax Reform | 136683 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mkibbe/2009/09/12/we-will-march-on-washington/We+Will+March+on+Washington2009-09-12+13%3A50%3A45Matt+Kibbe