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"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it." Frederic Bastiat |
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It wasn't but a week ago when Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to "stop trying to frighten the American people." But that hasn't stopped him from doing that himself. Here's what Obama told ABC News. He says, "If we don't pass it, here's the guarantee....your premiums will go up, your employers are going to load up more costs on you ... Potentially they're going to drop your coverage, because they just can't afford an increase of 25 percent, 30 percent in terms of the costs of providing health care to employees each and every year."
So the plan is to send more people to the government for healthcare and then tax the businesses if they don't comply with government regulations? This, folks, is fear mongering at its finest. Take a benefit like healthcare and tell people that if this legislation doesn't pass, they are going to lose this benefit. Unbelievable.
But Barack Obama did get something right. He noted that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid are on an "unsustainable" trajectory and the "federal government will go bankrupt" if we don't do something about it. How bad is it looking for the future of your children?
CBO currently projects that federal spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone will increase from 11.2 percent of GDP in 2010 to 17.1 percent in 2030. That jump in spending--5.9 percent of GDP over two decades--is larger than the current size of the Social Security program and will be added to the nation's budgetary obligations without any additional funding to pay for it.
Just try and wrap your brains around THAT one. Now, here's where Obama gets it wrong .. he says that if we don't pass this Democrat healthcare plan, then this is going to lead to the bankruptcy of our nation. I would like to know how these bills in Congress plan on addresses the entitlement crisis. From what I have read, both the House and Senate bills actually expand coverage to at least 133% of the poverty level. Not to mention the fact that both bills cap premiums at a percentage of income for households below 400% of the poverty level. How many Americans does that affect? About 127 million people. That leaves even more of the burden to fall on the evil rich.
In fact, the healthcare bill is going to be very expensive according to the Congressional Budget Office, and that will get worse over time. Expanding Medicaid coverage would cost about $200 billion annually by 2019 and increase every year thereafter at a rate of about 8%. But supporters of reform argue that the bill will actually reduce deficits. This is based on a lot of "fuzzy math" and we all know how that usually works out for the taxpayers. From the Heritage Foundation:
For starters, both bills assume that Medicare physician fees will be cut by some 20 percent on a continuous basis, even though there is strong bipartisan opposition to such cuts being implemented. Fixing that problem alone would push these bills into the red.
Moreover, the "pay fors" in both bills are heavily weighted toward across-the-board payment rate reductions in the Medicare program for hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and insurers. There is no effort to measure and reward quality care. Consequently, pressure is certain to build against them over time, and Congress has a long history of reversing such payment cuts at the first sign that access and quality are being compromised.
By necessity, any credible plan looking at long-run sustainability must address the rapidly rising costs of the nation's large health entitlement programs--Medicare and Medicaid. But that job could be made impossible if a health care bill locks in legislative changes aimed almost entirely at financing insurance expansion.
Look .. I know you're bored to death with all of the talk of government health care by now. Sorry about that ... but we're in a very dangerous time. Right now we know that Medicare and Medicaid are about to force our country into bankruptcy, yet the Democrats are pushing for a new entitlement program that will dwarf these two. Americans need to remain vigilant. This has to be stopped. Free market solutions absolutely must be tried before we go for the government option.
Think rationally about this. How in the wide wide world of economics can you tell an insurance company that they must accept every applicant, no matter what preexisting condition they may have, and not have to raise rates to cover the extra costs? What world are these ACORN Administration people living in?
There has NEVER been a federal entitlement program that did not cost much more than the proponents said it would cost when they were pushing it through congress. Why do you think this is going to be any different?
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