Deficit Effects of the Health-Care Bill

The Corner @ NRO ^ | 6/11/2010 | Veronique de Rugy

[Qbert]

Remember when President Obama told us how the health-care bill would cost $900 billion over ten years  and yet would somehow end up saving taxpayers money? Well, here is the chart that shows it’s not true.

[Chart]

Using Congressional Budget Office projections, the chart compares the net change in deficits due to changes in insurance coverage (red), net changes in deficits due to other spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs (green), and net changes in deficits due to a $420 billion increase in federal taxes. Importantly, these long-term estimates suppose that spending cuts and tax increases are instituted as legislated. The purple line shows the year-end change in the deficit due to the final health-care legislation. This change of $143 billion over ten years is paltry when taken in context — this nation has spent an average of $1.8 trillion dollars on health-care during each of the past ten years. To put it another way, the net deficit reduction over the next ten years will be less than 1 percent of this year’s GDP, and less than 4 percent of this year’s federal spending. This deficit reduction does nothing to reduce the substantial pressure of growing health-care costs on the federal budget. But don’t take my word or data for it. Here is the CBO director, Dr. Douglas Elmendorf, on that exact topic (and the slides underlying his blog post). The presentation destroys the claims of the president and his allies about the effects of the new laws on federal health spending and the budget.

[buffyt]

We are car shopping. If I use the Democrat thinking, I should buy a Jaguar or even a Lamborghini, because the more you spend, the more you save!

[buffyt]

Art Laffer wrote this week that the Economy Will Collapse January 2010.

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

It’s a trick

that works

cuz most voters don’t have brains

[Thank You Rush]

“”Art Laffer wrote this week that the Economy Will Collapse January 2010.””

I’ll bet you’ve already found your error.....

[XHogPilot]

Ah, the truth continues to emerge.