The Dems and Obama's PRIZED Legislation. Time to Put Obama in the Scrap Heap of Politics

CBO Adds $115 Billion to ObamaCare Cost Estimate

By Philip Klein on 5.11.10 @ 5:09PM

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday released a new estimate attributing $115 billion in additional spending to the new national health care law, driving the full cost over the first decade to over $1 trillion.
But the CBO cautioned that it didn't have enough information to project all of the additional costs.

The discrepancy between the new figures and the oft-cited $938 billion ObamaCare cost estimate comes because during the health care debate, the media only focused on the cost of the spending provisions aimed at expanding insurance coverage.

But the health care law also had all sorts of other discretionary spending costs, and implementation expenses, that were never calculated into a total figure. These include spending such as $39 billion for the Indian health improvement act; $34 billion in Federal Qualified Health Center grants; $9.1 billion in funding for the National Health Service Corps; and $5 billion to $10 billion in increased costs to the Internal Revenue service.
Add it all up, and it brings the cost of ObamaCare to $1.053 trillion from 2010 to 2019.

However, the way in which the law was drafted left the actual amount to be appropriated up in the air, merely writing "such sums as may be necessary," which prevented the CBO from performing a full cost analysis:
For those activities, the lack of guidance in the legislation about how new activities should be conducted means that, in many cases, CBO does not have a sufficient basis for estimating what the "necessary" amounts might be over the 2010-2020 period.

If they would just triple their estimates, they might get near what it will cost.

Just wait until January 2011 when the REAL numbers come out.

If there is one absolute in the universe it is that ALL government programs expand beyond their original scope and budget. It can be no other way. Government is not incentivized to be restrained and the Constitution is a failed document in that regard. This new program is going to likely be more costly than social security.[/i]

(05-11-2010 08:19 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  If there is one absolute in the universe it is that ALL government programs expand beyond their original scope and budget. It can be no other way. Government is not incentivized to be restrained and the Constitution is a failed document in that regard. This new program is going to likely be more costly than social security.

If there is "new management" in Congress next year, you might see the cost projections revised to something much more realistic.. and that may be enough ammo to get it repealed with a number of votes that will over ride Obama's Veto.

The government knowingly and willingly provides financials that would make an ENRON exec blush. There are educated people who understand this and still think its okay because they believe they are getting something "free", someone else is paying. Not a sign of integrity when you want/demand someone pay for you.

So when does the revolution start? I'm in.

(05-11-2010 09:24 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  So when does the revolution start? I'm in.

It started here before morphing over here and is presently most visible here and here.

(05-11-2010 09:24 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  So when does the revolution start? I'm in.

Are you ready to stop paying the gangs? If not...the revolution will just...revolve back to more big government. It is the MONEY that must be cut off to stop the growth of government. Government cant be restrained any other way.

We must starve the beast if we expect to win. Just putting new masters in power will not solve the problem.

We will crash and burn like Greece, and then maybe the will can be found. Unlike Greece, when we crash there's nobody big enough to bail us out.

BUT.... According to the Dumb (Obama), Dumber (Reid), and Dumbest (Pelosi) this will balance the US budget AND bring down healthcare costs for everyone. By having the government DICTATE the rules the healthcare market will become more open and competitive.

Of course when ObamaCare does not work, which we know its doomed to failure, the Washington Emergency Fix It Crew, will have to move to single payer, which is what they wanted from the git go. The non-partisan CBO turned out to be partisan (imagine that) and can never be trusted ever again for a non-partisan estimate. The CBO cooked the books on ObamaCare, and the taxpayer is taking it up the tailpipe.