Universal Nighmare: The New Bill

Here is a list, complements of the Heritage Foundation, of problems in the bill being proposed by the president:

* The President’s proposal ignores “doc fix” legislation, which would cost roughly $200 billion over ten years. As Capretta notes, it is ironic that the President does not account for this provision, but includes several other Medicare provisions in his proposal.

* Non-coverage spending would add about $90 billion to the cost of the bill.

* Cost estimates for the President’s plan should apply to the ten year window from 2011 to 2020—not to 2019. This would add approximately $200 billion more to the cost of the bill.

* The President’s plan includes the CLASS Act, premiums from which are double-counted. Fixing this adds $72 billion to the cost of the bill.

* The true ten year window of the bill, including spending reductions, new revenues, and new spending, is 2014 to 2023. During this period, the Senate bill would cost $2.3 trillion. Adding the President’s additional provisions, at $75 billion, as well as the aforementioned provisions, arrives at a grand total of over $2.5 billion.

Now uh, the White house estimates that this bill will cost around 950 billion. Yet the CBO, says that this is inaccurate and "far from "reality." In other words, this is just wishful thinking on the White Houses part.

I have not read much of this bill, but from what i have seen, it is loaded with new taxes and regulations that will only further shoot up medical costs.

This bill is a bad idea and i will blog more about it later when i know more about this.