Bottomless Money Pit
Washington wants to spend your money to improve health care.
Only one problem.
They don’t know how much of your money they will need.
Peter Orszag, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was unable – when asked by CNSNews.com – to come up with the total cost for Obama’s plan to reform the nation’s healthcare system.
If OMB doesn’t know, how does Obamaman know?
Well, he doesn’t.
He’s just winging it. All part of the Change You Can Believe in stuff the American people voted for.
Orszag described the $634 billion the administration built into the new budget over the next 10 years — as a “down payment” for health reform.
Well that’s comforting. For a while I was worried it might be like those “no money down mortgages” that created this mess.
Nearly $320 billion of the $634 billion total will be financed primarily through tax increases on top income earners, something the administration calls “encouraging shared responsibility.”
Shared responsibility.Here in Georgia we call it “civic rent”.
The goals of Obama’s health-reform plan are explicit, meanwhile, even if the real price tag has yet to be announced:
– Reducing premiums and other health-care costs
– Reducing administrative and other costs for “unnecessary” medical tests and services
– Placing the U.S. on a “clear path” to universal healthcare
– Making coverage portable and put an end to denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions
– Giving people the option of keeping their current plan
– Invest in “public health measures” to combat problems such as obesity, smoking, and “sedentary lifestyles”
– Improving safety and quality of care, including through “medical interventions”
– Pay for itself through a combination of cost reductions, improved productivity, and “dedicating additional sources of revenue”
The “additional” sources of revenue will pay for over half of the known costs of the plan.
Well that’s certainly comforting to know . . .