According to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report:
CMS took a close look at the health care bill that was passed by House Democrats and endorsed by the White House, and it found that not only would the bill not reduce health care costs -- it would increase them. Time and again, we have been reminded that the United States spends a higher percentage of its GDP on health care than any other nation -- about 16 percent. As Obama but it in his June speech to the American Medical Association, "If we fail to act, one out of every five dollars we earn will be spent on health care within a decade." Yet if we adopt the legislation supported by Obama -- which finances expanded coverage through tax increases and Medicare cuts -- health care spending will actually rise to 21.1 percent of GDP, according to CMS, compared to 20.8 percent if we simply do nothing.
"Make no mistake: The cost of our health care is a threat to our economy," Obama told AMA. "It's an escalating burden on our families and businesses. It's a ticking time bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America."
This is not the first entire justification fail of the health-care reform process, nor will it be the last. Why? Because as "Saturday Night Live" notes, "The President wants to pass a health-care bill so bad that he will literally sign anything...As long as it's a stack of paper with the words 'health care' on it, he'll sign it."
Because what's important in this time of 10.2 percent unemployment is to pay several trillion dollars to preserve the fantasy that Congress knows anything about bringing down the cost of health care, despite the fact that the fallacy has been laid bare on numerous occasions by lawmakers, CBO, CMS, and trusty common sense.
Now, go forth, and get that giant, directionless hodge-podge of made-up policy remedies and government largesse on the president's desk before the make-believe deadline of the end of the year, lawmakers! That'll fix everything.
