Obama’s health care bill, the poisoned Kool-Aid making its way through the Senate, will not confer any of its supposed benefits on Americans until 2013. But they will find themselves chafing at its restrictions and paying its taxes immediately after the law takes effect. Then, they will see no gain, but plenty of pain, for the next three years.
This odd juxtaposition of “suffer now, benefit later” is the byproduct of the Administration’s sleight of hand in specifying ten years worth of cuts and taxes in the legislation, but deferring its benefits for the first four years. By comparing six years of spending with ten years of taxing, it managed to appear deficit neutral under the rules of the Congressional Budget Office. In fact, the annual revenues fall far short of covering any single year’s worth of spending, adding to the deficit for each of the last six years over the next ten, but, viewing the decade as a whole, it appears deficit neutral.
Yet the political price is hardly neutral. Democrats who misguidedly vote for this monstrosity will face immediate political repercussions.
The harshest of these backlashes will come from the elderly who will suddenly visit their doctors and be told “no” when they ask for therapies or treatments. The rationing of medical care will start immediately on enactment and, one hopes, the outraged phone calls will start to descend on those whose votes enabled it.
The first “no” will hit the ten million elderly who now rely on Medicare Advantage to pay for the care Medicare itself does not cover. In a payoff to AARP, Obama gutted this program in his bill, ending over $100 billion in federal premium subsidies. These ten million voters will get the grim news that their premiums are going up and their benefits dropping early in 2010. The goal, of course, is to force them to drop Medicare Advantage and sign up, instead, for Medigap insurance — offered, not coincidentally, by the AARP — which provides less coverage at higher cost.
Young people without health insurance can expect to start writing $750 annual checks to Washington to pay the fines written into the bill. (And, after the Conference Committee finishes its work, the fines may be higher).
All Americans will soon find their insurance premiums rising as a result of the bill. The young, uninsured will not buy policies. Why should they? Why not just pay the $750 fines each year? Why pay between 2% and 10% of their household income before subsidies kick in? It makes no financial sense for anyone making more than $30,000 to pay for coverage. (And most of those under that threshold will be covered by Medicaid, not by private insurance).
There is no reason for the young to buy private insurance. The legislation requires that health insurers take all comers and not raise rates based on pre-existing conditions. So the young can get coverage when they need it, having only paid $750 per year beforehand.
The difference in cost will, of course, be borne by families throughout America who will see their health insurance premiums increase. President Obama and his Democratic rubber stamps may appreciate that they are not raising taxes on the middle class, just raising mandatory health insurance premiums, but the distinction is likely to be lost on swing voters.
From now on, any increase in health insurance premiums will become the political responsibility of the Obama Administration. As General Colin Powell once said of Iraq “You break it. You own it.” Since these premiums have been rising by an average of 10% per year for more than the past decade, this is a legacy most politicians would sensibly avoid if they could.
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The pols don’t care if they lose their jobs. Even if they’re kicked out, they have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. They have their own health care and their own retirement system. When they retire they’ll get a monthly paycheck equal to their ending salary for the rest of their lives. They will never want. Don’t forget, for decades they have been setting their own salary, and not getting any flak for it. They are the ruling elite.
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The health care issue will be a multi year vote against the Democrats starting in 2010. There are some issues that people (which the Democrats hope will happen) do not forget, especially when they see the increased taxes each day. I would imagine that these bills are written lengthy to cover up ‘pork’ spending and to confuse the public.
There will be a revolt in this country like never seen before which probably will start when several states go bankrupt and Obam plays favorites in the Democratic ones.
One comment on the CBO estimate. Their estimates assume that there will be cuts in reimbursements for doctors around 20 percent next year and no increase for the next decade. This is absurd and there probably will be a separate provision that will strip it out which will then place the bill into the red.
Secondly, there is a trick by stating the costs $850 billion over ten years. The majority of the costs are in the last six years. The real changes start in 2014 when the benefits kick in and then the cost is not slightly under $1 trillion but rather around $2 trillion which means it will blow an enormous hole in the deficit.
This is why the issue will be multiyear politically (in my opinion).
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