Obamacare will add $340 billion to deficit

[OmaHusker]

President Obama’s landmark health-care initiative, long touted as a means to control costs, will actually add more than $340 billion to the nation’s budget woes over the next decade, according to a new study by a Republican member of the board that oversees Medicare financing.

The study is set to be released Tuesday by Charles Blahous, a conservative policy analyst whom Obama approved in 2010 as the GOP trustee for Medicare and Social Security. His analysis challenges the conventional wisdom that the health-care law, which calls for an expensive expansion of coverage for the uninsured beginning in 2014, will nonetheless reduce deficits by raising taxes and cutting payments to Medicare providers.

The 2010 law does generate both savings and revenue. But much of that money will flow into the Medicare hospitalization trust fund — and, under law, the money must be used to pay years of additional benefits to those who are already insured. That means those savings would not be available to pay for expanding coverage for the uninsured.

Washington Post

[Pops]

The cost of providing health care for U.S. citizens who have no insurance will total $125 billion this year, with taxpayers and private entities footing most of the bill, a report issued on Monday said.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0511-07.htm
340 billion over ten years is 34 billion a year

125 billion a year over ten years ..would be a savings of 910 billion

its making lemonade out of lemons

[RedRum]

The cost of providing health care for U.S. citizens who have no insurance will total $125 billion this year, with taxpayers and private entities footing most of the bill, a report issued on Monday said.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0511-07.htm
340 billion over ten years is 34 billion a year

125 billion a year over ten years ..would be a savings of 910 billion

its making lemonade out of lemons

The article you quoted is 8 years old and it says this:

Still, the extra $48 billion would be on top of the $125 billion that will be spent this year on health care for the uninsured, the report said. Its recommendation would push the total to $173 billion.


So it is saying the increase in the deficit would be $480 billion in 10 years. But $480 billion is a far rosier picture than what the new numbers are saying because of the tax increases and premiums that are being collected now.

[CombatTargeteer]

because the dems used reconciliation to pass obamacare it is illegal for the deficit to go up one penny. that's the law; but of course it will be ignored again by this administration

[Pops]

The article you quoted is 8 years old and it says this:

Still, the extra $48 billion would be on top of the $125 billion that will be spent this year on health care for the uninsured, the report said. Its recommendation would push the total to $173 billion.


So it is saying the increase in the deficit would be $480 billion in 10 years. But $480 billion is a far rosier picture than what the new numbers are saying because of the tax increases and premiums that are being collected now.

i figured the increase in health care costs would be higher....and me doing math makes me want to light myself on fire and run into a IRS building

[RedBlack&Blue]

because the dems used reconciliation to pass obamacare it is illegal for the deficit to go up one penny. that's the law; but of course it will be ignored again by this administration

But it was perfectly ok to run up the deficit by starting two unfunded wars?

[FLA4NEB]

Don't worry. There is an army of new IRS agents that make sure they wring those dollars out the unwilling.

[redmachine]

But it was perfectly ok to run up the deficit by starting two unfunded wars?

We started two wars??

[CombatTargeteer]

But it was perfectly ok to run up the deficit by starting two unfunded wars?

the point is they didn't use reconciliation to start the wars. So you are saying this administration can break the law because the last one did? How does that help the country?

[Pops]

We started two wars??

iraq and war on drugs

[CombatTargeteer]

and that has what to do with the thread title????

[Pops]

and that has what to do with the thread title????

money spent that adds to the deficit.

[CombatTargeteer]

how are two wars related to obamacare?

[Sonuvahusker]

how are two wars related to obamacare?

They're not. It's a diversion tactic used when you don't want to discuss the actual topic.

because the dems used reconciliation to pass obamacare it is illegal for the deficit to go up one penny. that's the law; but of course it will be ignored again by this administration

I have to admit, I'm not up to speed on this. Can you explain further? In the meantime, I'm going to research it.

[Sonuvahusker]

Still searching, but I ran across this:

[Sonuvahusker]

Here's a good explanation of reconciliation and how it applies to Obamacare:

When Congress passed the budget, it set in place a process to pass health care reform, education reform and climate change legislation. In the House, the budget instructed the Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee to come up with $1 billion in deficit reductions for health care reform. In the Senate, the budget did the same for the Senate Finance and Health Committee (HELP). If lawmakers can come up with $1 billion in fake savings, they could use reconciliation to pass Obamacare.

However, Mike Solon -- former policy advisor to both Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and former Sen. Phil Gramm -- identifies a major hurdle for the liberals. Solon argues that it would be very difficult for proponents of Obamacare to navigate "the tight budgetary constraints imposed by the Budget Act, the budget resolution and the Byrd Rule." He further argues that the biggest obstruction is "the Byrd Rule prohibition that no reconciliation bill can make the deficit worse outside the budgetary window." This means that any provision in the legislation that's expected to cost taxpayers, even 10 years down the road, would doom the prospects of passage of the bill. There is only so far that the left can game the system.

http://www.heritage.org/research/com...-and-obamacare

[Big Red Rick]

But it was perfectly ok to run up the deficit by starting two unfunded wars?

That is a sick and inaccurate post.

[RedPhoenix]

That is a sick and inaccurate post.

That post is entirely accurate. Not sure why it would be "sick"......

[Nishioka]

That post is entirely accurate. Not sure why it would be "sick"......

You know, like RB&B did a totally sweet move on a skateboard, and everyone was all like, "that was sick, yo"

[RedBlack&Blue]

the point is they didn't use reconciliation to start the wars. So you are saying this administration can break the law because the last one did? How does that help the country?

No. Just always amazed at the hypocrisy of the Neocons.