January 09, 2013
   « Brit ban on Savage was pure politics | Blog Home Page | More ACORN angst: Tea partiers turnout dwarfs Obamabots (updated) »
Email Friend | Print Article | | Share Share

July 26, 2009

CBO again reveals that Obamacare is based on cooked numbers

Rick Moran
For the second time in less than a month, the Congressional Budget Office has dealt a severe blow to Obamacare's claims that it will pay of itself in health care savings.

It's easy to raise taxes on the rich to pay for the plan. But that only covers half the expected $1 trillion price tag (Note: It is probably a third to a half more than that topping out at close to $1.5 trillion). The rest of the savings was expected to come in reforming Medicare by reducing the amount paid to doctors and hospitals.

The CBO, who earlier said that the plan would actually cost the government hundreds of billions over the next decade, put the kibosh on the notion that the Medicare reform proposed would save more than $2 billion over 10 years. That's only about $450 billion short of what is needed.

In response, the White House, after touting the deal with Blue Dogs last Tuesday to have an independent panel make the Medicare savings decisions, turned around and tried to make it appear that they never said the savings would be realized in the next decade - an outright, shocking lie.

Chris Frates in Politico:
But on Saturday, the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal to give an independent panel the power to keep Medicare spending in check would only save about $2 billion over 10 years- a drop in the bucket compared to the bill's $1 trillion price tag.

"In CBO's judgment, the probability is high that no savings would be realized ... but there is also a chance that substantial savings might be realized. Looking beyond the 10-year budget window, CBO expects that this proposal would generate larger but still modest savings on the same probabilistic basis," CBO Director Douglas Elmendorfin a letter to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Saturday.

On his White House blog, Orszag - who served as CBO director in 2007 and 2008 - downplayed the office's small probable savings number in favor of the proposal's more speculative long-term benefits.

"The point of the proposal, however, was never to generate savings over the next decade. ... Instead, the goal is to provide a mechanism for improving quality of care for beneficiaries and reducing costs over the long term," Orszag wrote. "In other words, in the terminology of our belt-and-suspenders approach to a fiscally responsible health reform, the IMAC is a game changer not a scoreable offset."
 wrote

"Not a scoreable offset?" That is not what they were saying last Tuesday and indeed, they were touting the IMAC gimmick as the key to the whole shebang.

Ed Lasky adds:

First, the Congressional Budget Office head, Douglas Elmendorf,  gets called into the White House  for a "discussion" over his agency's findings that Obama Care will costs far in excess to what is being presented to America by Barack Obama; then Peter Orszag joins in the bullying by posting critical commentary on his blog about the CBO's analysis (h/t: Jennifer Rubin).

Of course, Orszag himself used budget tricks to get his budget projections to work out for Obama-including excluding hikes in doctors' fees for treating Medicare patients .

Barack Obama truly has a "bully" pulpit and he is the bully.

Obama's presidency is falling apart before our eyes. And it's his own party who is helping him along.

Posted at 9:03 AM | Email | | | Share Share