As I understand the issue, it seems that we are taking from Seniors (Medicare) to fund 30M Americans who do not have insurance. The 30M would each get a subsidy of $6K annually to buy insurance. I think this is where most of the money goes -- not to set up bureaucracies.
Your general point is well taken however. There will be a massive bureaucracy, but I am not sure the bill spells out how big and how it will be organized.
No, I think you’re misunderstanding it.
The subsidies and Medicare cuts ARE in the bill. The writer is clearly referring to “discretionary” costs that are NOT in the CBO score.
He never says what those costs are. But calling them “operating costs” and “discretionary” leads me to assume he’s referring to costs of staffing/equipping those new agencies.
Obviously, this op-ed doesn’t provide those answers. But it royally pisses me off that, after a YEAR of intense debate, I couldn’t get a single Republican to ask this explosive question.
Yeah, late in the game they came out with the IRA talking points. But my guess is the public would be even more alarmed to find out there will be a quarter million NEW federal workers!