A Democrat Christmas

2000 Obamacare Pages, Distilled

“ In the first 10 years (2014 to 2023), Americans would have to pay  over $1 trillion in additional taxes, over $1 trillion would be siphoned out of Medicare (over $200 billion out of Medicare Advantage alone) deficits would rise by over $200 billion- unless Congress follows through on the bill's pledge to cut doctors' payments under Medicare by 21 percent next year and never raise them back up -- which would reduce doctors' enthusiasm for seeing Medicare patients dramatically. The CBO's scoring contains what Bill Kristol  calls the key ten words: "reduce access to care or diminish the quality of care." "It is unclear whether such a reduction in the growth rate could be achieved, and if so, whether it would be accomplished through greater efficiencies in the delivery of health care or would reduce access to care or diminish the quality of care." Sen. Ben Nelson's principled (by traditional standards, not the Democrat Party's) stand against voting for any bill mandating taxpayer paid abortions was bought for $4½ million a year (the cost of picking up Nebraska's increased Medicaid tab).  The bill's default position is to pay for abortions; states would have to pass legislation to not fund abortions. Said Nelson, "I was a cheap date" (compared to Mary Landrieu).  Matthew Continetti wrote Expect this sentence to get a lot of play:   "CBO and JCT estimate that the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act incorporating the manager’s amendment would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the 2010-2019 period." After that, CBO goes on, things get a little iffy: These longer-term calculations assume that the provisions are enacted and remain unchanged throughout the next two decades. Further words escape me. ”