Deem and Cram, Part 2

In follow-up, the following issues are part of the debate over government takeover of our healthcare system:

1. They plan on voting on the "rules" bill with amendments to the Senate version of healthcare on Sunday. As of today, depending on who you listen to, it is a toss-up as to whether or not QP has the votes needed. It is clear that she will not bring this to a vote on the floor if she is not convinced it will pass. BO has postponed his next Asian trip in order to be here to help fight fellow cRats and beat them into submission. QP has also scheduled another vote for Sunday on something that is meaningless. This appears to be so she can call a vote Sunday, for something, if she is still not ready for the big showdown. There are several cRats who claim to be undecided. Are you kidding me! How can anyone, after 14 months of the debate and battle over this issue, still have no idea how they feel? If it is true that they are not yet sure, then it is due to one of two things: either they should not be in that job as they do not have a shred of leadership ability within them; or, they are holding out to see what they can get from BO and QP before committing.

2. If this vote passes, BO will sign into law the Senate version of Healthcare. If and when that happens, we will begin to see new taxes. The bill includes several avenues of raising revenue to help cover the costs. Some of these include additional taxes on capital gains, increased medicare payroll taxes, taxes or fines on companies that are not providing the level of health insurance the government mandates, etc. There will also be the requirement for states to add more people to their Medicaid plans. The government will further dictate to insurance companies what they must cover and who that have to cover.

3. Today, the House voted on a measure sponsored by iCans that would block the Slaughter Solution from being used for this bill. It was defeated 222-203.

4. The Senate version of the bill includes Federal funding for abortions. In includes provisions for the Federal takeover of the student loan program (with the exception of one bank in North Dakota who has an exemption and can still offer these loans due to part of the buyout of ND's Representative). It appears that my own Representative got something, also. Rep. Kirkpatrick appears to have secured some funds for rural Arizona. These are coming in FEMA, disaster emergency funds. The money is in response to a storm we had in our area two months ago.

5. The powers of the IRS are being expanded with this bill. They will be in charge of watching us on a monthly basis to make sure we do not cancel our health insurance. If we do, we will be fined. Oh, and by the way, most everyone is predicting our health premiums to increase, not get lower.

6. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a preliminary estimate of the effect this bill would have on our deficit during the next ten years. They are claiming that during the next decade, passing healthcare would reduce the deficit by around $150 billion. They estimate that the cost of the program for the next decade will be around $950 billion. If these figures were accurate (they will not be even for no other reason than they do not include all the amendments the House is currently adding with all the cost needed to buy all the votes of the cRats), it would mean that the government raised, through this bill, $1.1 trillion. They are telling us that $500 billion will come from reducing Medicare benefits. The rest will come from taxes and penalties on the rest of us. So, $600 billion will need to be raised over the next ten years ($50 billion each year) by these methods. That amounts to over $1,800 for each person in our country. This is in addition to what we already pay in taxes and the amount they will take from the Medicare system.

The only way the Congress could get the CBO to issue an estimate that would indicate the deficit would decrease over ten years, if this passes, was to begin the portions of the bill that generate revenue immediately but postpone the portions that include any benefits for four years. So, if you do the math, they are estimating the annual cost of the plan to be around $160 billion each year ($950 billion divided by six years of benefits).

The CBO went on the estimate that during the second decade of this plan, there would be a further deficit reduction of approximately $1.2 trillion. Sorry, but the numbers do not add up to anything like that. If they are raising $50 billion each year from us and another $42 billion saved by reduced Medicare benefits paid, which equals $92 billion in revenue annually; and the cost of running the program is $160 billion annually; that does not add up to a deficit reduction, no matter how many years you multiply it by. Instead, it supports an additional deficit of $640 billion. To get from an additional deficit of $640 billion to a reduced deficit of $1.2 trillion means they will have to raise an additional $1,840 billion dollars from us. That amounts to another $5,500 per person in the country.

I don't know about you, but from my viewpoint, after three decades of this plan, it will start adding up to real money!

Welcome to the USSA!