William A. Jacobson
LegalInsurrection
4/22/2010
The gloss is off the Obamacare rose, if it ever were there. The Office of the Actuary of Medicare has released a report which finds that Obamacare will increase, not decrease, health care costs, and … (wait for it because you never would have guessed) … the financial assumptions were unrealistic!
Shocked, shocked.
As reported by AP:
President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law will increase the nation’s health care tab instead of bringing costs down, government economic forecasters concluded Thursday in a sobering assessment of the sweeping legislation.
A report by economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department said the health care remake will achieve Obama’s aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million Americans to the coverage rolls.
But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president’s twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, however, since the report also warned that Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, forcing lawmakers to roll them back.
The CBO numbers were rigged, because the CBO was forced to follow unrealistic assumptions in its forecasts.
We said it, the American people understood it, but the Democrats forced the bill through anyway. They must pay the price in November.
Update: Now it makes sense. The Democrats refused to delay the vote on Obamacare even though the Medicare Actuary was not able to complete his analysis and cost estimates in time for the vote. In light of this report, it is clear why the Democrats didn’t want to wait. They could game the CBO, but not the Medicare Actuary.