As much as Obama would like to defend his healthcare “reform” bill, the only way to do so is to ignore its realities. Usually it takes quite some time to see the ill effects of government intervention, but with today’s technology to analyze data and get the word out, we are already seeing the results. First, Congress and this administration should be asked one very tough question. Why did they rush a vote before full analysis of the legislation was complete? The full cost analysis on many of the discretionary programs created with this legislation was not complete, but now some of those numbers are coming in. Rep. Jerry Lewis from California requested this additional cost analysis before the final vote. He also wrote Pelosi and requested that they wait for a vote until this analysis was done. This request was not heeded (for obvious reasons) and now the CBO has released that it will cost an additional $115 billion to implement. And that does not even include the financial gimmicks they used to get the number below $1 trillion in the first place.
Another analysis that was not waited on was that of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This report, from its head Richard Foster, would have been devastating to the administration. There are several points, but none worse than the cost. Mr. Foster says that this legislation will increase national health care spending by $311 billion over the next decade, which is stark contrast to what Obama has been selling to the American public over the last year.
Here are some other major points from the CMS report pointed out by the Heritage Foundation, all of which contradict promises from this administration and Congress:
- Millions Pay Fines Yet Remain Uncovered: 18 million Americans will pay $33 billion in penalties for failing to comply with Obamacare’s individual mandate.
- Firms Pay Billions to Comply with Employer Mandate: Between 2014-2019 firms that do not offer health insurance and are subject to the “play-or-play” mandate will pay $87 billion in penalties.
- Millions Placed on Welfare: Of the 34 million Americans who gain health insurance through Obamacare, over half (18 million) will receive it through the welfare program Medicaid.
- Millions Lose Medicare Advantage: 7.4 million seniors who currently get such services as coordinated care for chronic conditions, routine eye and hearing examinations, and preventive-care services would lose their existing private coverage.
- Seniors Lose Access to Care: Obamacare’s top down price control Medicare cuts will make 15% of all Medicare providers unprofitable thus “jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries.”
Here is the report if you want to read it.
The response from the administration is as expected. They have set their PR people loose, criticizing the analysis from the CMS report on the White House website among other media. So just like the last administration, instead of paying attention to the realities of their actions, they just continue on blindly believing their own made up numbers. ( I say like the last administration, because this is not the first time Mr. Foster has been criticized for his realistic analysis…mainly the Medicare drug benefit in 03)
I do have to wonder why this administration is getting a pass on all of this new information. They are blowing it all off as if it is not real. Just like all the other things that have come to light. The first was the bombshell by AT&T and others who announced not only how much it would cost their companies ($1 billion if I remember correctly), but that they would likely drop their current employees healthcare coverage because it was cheaper to pay the fine. Congress tried to hold them over the fire for opposing the bill until they realized that these companies were required to give those numbers by law. Maybe if they would have read it before voting…who knows…
Heritage is still tracking all of these side effects. One shows White Castle’s analysis, which confirmed that Obamacare “makes it difficult to justify growing where jobs are needed most-in lower income areas.” Not good. But their latest article is even better in my opinion. It looks at analysis from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small-business advocacy group. Turns out Obama was not exactly truthful about the effect of the small business tax credit. Their analysis shows that first; it is extremely hard to qualify. Second, most employers would have to limit hiring and employee compensation to keep it. And lastly, turns out it is only a temporary tax credit. It only lasts 6 years and then goes away. So Congress will either have to ignore this financing gimmick and continue giving it, or those people will lose their coverage and be pushed on government welfare. Its win-win for Obama.
Unfortunately for him though, the fight over this legislation is not over. 33 states are fighting it in one way or another. That in itself should open people’s eyes. Not only to the real life effects of this legislation, but to what government intervention gets you. This is extremely important with similarly disastrous financial regulation and cap and trade legislation coming to a vote in the near future. We have failed to learn from our mistakes under Hoover and FDR. The question now is will we learn from our mistakes from the past year. I would say the answer for many liberals out there is sadly no.
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