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Interesting op-ed, especially given that it's in the NYT.
But I was struck by this paragraph:
Even worse, some costs are left out entirely. To operate the new programs over the first 10 years, future Congresses would need to vote for $114 billion in additional annual spending. But this so-called discretionary spending is excluded from the Congressional Budget Office’s tabulation.I've been calling all over Washington since last August trying to find out how many new federal employees would be hired to staff all those new agencies. I even talked to one of the "scorers" at CBO. To a person, I was told: "We don't know that".
In other words, it's not included in the bill's costs? This op-ed is the first published reference I've seen, and it appears to confirm what I suspected.
I will say, I think the $114 billion "annually" must be an error. Even if that figure is for 10 years, it would mean 228,000 new bureaucrats at an average $50k/year. And---keep in mind---they will not all be in place for the full 10 years---so it's probably even more.
Does anyone have any more information on this? Has anyone found ANYTHING that tells us what it will cost to implement this scheme? All I've heard is IRS information. But there are hundreds of new agencies, commissions, etc. created in this bill. What will it cost to staff/equip all of them?
Where was the NYT BEFORE this P.O.S. bill was passed?
Congress is honest with America. BARF
Sure they are. So now and until this thing gets repealed, then NO additional funds should be appropriated if it any way shape or form increases the deficit.
At the numbers? No, that the NYT would publish this piece.
Currently, Medicare and Medicaid medical claim reimbursements are contracted out to existing insurance entities, i.e. Blue Cross Blue Shield; who receive administrative fees.
IMHO This process is intended be implemented for all other Obamacare medical expenditures - by contracting private insurance companies to process claims...until the Federal Goverment takes them over lock, stock and barrel.
The question has to be: What happens to all the premiums held in reserve for the existing health insurance policies?
According to several State Insurance sites - there are $trillions in reserve as required by State Insurance laws.
FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!!!!!
My Employer pays my monthly Health Care Premiums, and those of my Wife IF she is not employed or her employer does not provide a Health Insurance plan. Her employer currently does not. If she does have a plan available (and now it's mandated that her employer must), then I pay $175 a month if I want her to stay on my company's plan. So either way we have to now pay a monthly premium for her, where I didn’t before.
Obama has taken a minimum of $175 a month out of my pocket, and that's assuming premiums stay the same, which they won't.
btt
...the budget office is required to take written legislation at face value and not second-guess the plausibility of what it is handed. So fantasy in, fantasy out. In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion.