CBO: ObamaCare Increases Deficit by $1.35 Trillion

CFIF ^ | JANUARY 28 2015 | ASHTON ELLIS

[xzins]

After barely more than a year in operation, ObamaCare is now projected to require more than a trillion dollars in deficit spending over the next decade, according to the new CBO report.

Buried in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office is the latest admission that ObamaCare was sold on a foundation of lies.

Back in 2009, President Barack Obama told a joint session of Congress that “our health care system is placing an unsustainable burden on taxpayers.” “Put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem. Nothing comes close. Nothing else.”

The president’s speech was designed to be all things to all people: ObamaCare would cover millions of uninsured Americans at no extra cost to taxpayers.

Regarding the health law’s fiscal neutrality, President Obama was emphatic.

“First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period. And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don’t materialize.”

Before concluding his pledge, the president couldn’t resist taking a swipe at his predecessor.

“Now, part of the reason I faced a trillion-dollar deficit when I walked in the door of the White House is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for – from the Iraq war to tax breaks for the wealthy. I will not make that same mistake with health care.”

Oops.

After barely more than a year in operation, ObamaCare is now projected to require more than a trillion dollars in deficit spending over the next decade, according to the new CBO report.

Over the next ten years, the federal government will likely have to spend $1.933 trillion via ObamaCare, while taking in only $643 billion in related taxes, penalties and fines.

That leaves cost overruns that – you guessed it – will add $1.35 trillion to the federal deficit thanks to President Obama’s signature domestic initiative.

In other words, the man who publicly chastised George W. Bush for leaving a trillion dollar deficit more than doubled it with a single piece of legislation.

So far, the White House is ignoring CBO’s bombshell projection, making no attempt to honor the president’s promise to cut spending elsewhere to pay for ObamaCare’s deficit increase.

Perhaps the president’s advisers don’t want to draw attention to the fact that the $1.35 trillion deficit number translates into a very costly unfunded mandate. In order to enroll 24 to 27 million previously uninsured Americans in ObamaCare, federal taxpayers will have to pony up at least $50,000 per enrollee.

But even that doesn’t tell the full story. The CBO also estimates that ObamaCare still leaves between 29 and 31 million non-elderly Americans without medical insurance. Covering this group would ratchet up spending even more.

Of the many reasons ObamaCare lacks legitimacy, one of the most important is the deliberate deception practiced by its authors. Jonathan Gruber, the now disgraced health economist who admitted that supporters wrote ObamaCare in a “tortured” way to generate a deficit neutral CBO score, said that “lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.”

“Basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.”

Another important ingredient was having a president audacious enough to tell every Member of Congress and a nationwide television audience that he cared more about fiscal responsibility than entrenching government control of the health care industry, knowing the opposite was true.

It’s past time for the American people to get the health reform debate they deserve. In the coming months as Republicans in Congress hammer out ObamaCare alternatives, they should be quick to remind people that real policy-making involves trade-offs.

We can’t afford any more lies.

[xzins]

Obama Said:

“First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period. And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don’t materialize.”

Where are the cuts, Mr President?

Where are the cuts, Republican House and Senate?

[Buckeye McFrog]

With the end result being premiums no one can afford.

We could have just bought every uninsured person a policy for a fraction of this cost.

[ealgeone]

So he lied?? I’m stunned.

[Lee'sGhost]

Ha! You see, it didn’t add “one dime.” It was a lot more than that. Don’t you know Clinton/Obama speak?

“I did not have sex with that woman, not once.”

[agincourt1415]

Why am I not surprised?

[Liz]

Pelosi was orgasmic at the O/Care signing. (Ut, oh. Harry's hands are not visible.)

The Obamacare atrocity was a cunning vehicle for
consolidating Dummycrat power. Dems cashed-in bigtime.

(A) Michelle's buddy---botched the billion dollar web site rollout---still doesn't work.

(B) Harry Reid's $4 billion "accidental" payment to Landrieu is a clue to how the straight party-line vote got this atrocity passed.

(C) A multi-billion dollar slush fund---the Untraceable $8 Billion ObamaCare PR Budget---truly govt fraud at its finest.

Egged on by Pelosi, no one in Congress told Americans about Section 4002---which mandates an $8B untraceable fund to "promote" Obamacare (apparently b/c Boobamba had so little confidence in his signature legislation).

In 2010 Taxpayers are extorted $500 million, in 2011, $750 million, 2012, $1 billion, 2013, $1.25 billion, 2014, $1.5 billion and in 2015 and on, $2 billion........

==================================================

UPDATE Obamacare’s Mysterious Missing Billions
Townhall.com ^ | October 15, 2015 | Mytheos Holt / FR Posted by Kaslin

EDITED EXCERPT.....what if Obamacare was free money for Democrats? A recent GAO report to congress suggests that this explanation may, in fact, be the correct one.

Buried in the document’s appendices is a stunning statistic. Out of $5,509,074,183 in grants allocated to state-based exchanges, $1,453,766,433 was spent on actually building the IT infrastructure of Obamacare websites. More suspiciously still, nearly $2.4 billion was authorized for IT spending, and of the over $5.5 billion total, apparently only $3.2 billion was actually spent. However, despite the exchanges being $2.3 billion under budget, only a scant $300 million has been returned to the federal government so far.

A cynical observer (the crowds of townhall nay-sayers?) might suggest that this money was never intended to be used for health care at all.....that it went to Democratic governors as free money for them to shore up their coffers and pay them back for political support. Illegal? Unethical?....never been worth much to an administration marked by the kind of Leftist political cynicism personified by President Obama’s administration.

..... if only $300 million has been returned out of $2.3 billion that wasn’t spent, where's the other $2 billion? And if only $1.4 billion was spent of $2.4 billion authorized for IT spending, what happened to the other $1 billion of that? --snip--

[Senator_Blutarski]

Silly conservatives.

Results don’t matter.

Shut up and pay your taxes. Someone has to fund this goat rodeo.

[Liz]

"Obamacare" is a blunder of Ceausescu-esque proportions. In Obama's feeble mind, the ACA was not about healthcare.

Far from it.

The conniving Obama calculated the ACA to consolidate Democrat power that was supposed to install a permanent Dumbocrat majority. So much for that ding-dong idea....b/c 30 lockstepping Dumbocrats who voted for it were ousted in the 2014 Democrat Demolition Derby. Several retired knowing they could not be reelected.

====================================================

WHERE IS THE MONEY? O/care also allocated some $6 billion tax dollars----spending money for Dumbocrats ----which has yet to be traced.

The Untraceable $8 Billion ObamaCare PR Budget---truly govt fraud at its finest. Egged on by Pelosi, Democrats slavishly voted for Obamacare by an historic straignt-party line vote. But not one Democrat told Americans about Obamacare's Section 4002---which mandates an $8B untraceable fund to "promote" Obamacare (apparently b/c Boobamba had so little confidence in his signature legislation).

THE PAYOFF--WHO GETS THE MONEY? In 2010 Taxpayers are extorted $500 million, in 2011, $750 million, 2012, $1 billion, 2013, $1.25 billion, 2014, $1.5 billion, and, in 2015 and on, $2 billion

<><> Where is all that money going?

<><> Was cashing-in the incentive in getting the thing passed?

The sound of West Wing wire-transfers to states and to offshore banks is almost palpable.

===================================================

REFERENCE ACA SEC. 4002. PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH FUND.

(a) PURPOSE. It is the purpose of this section of the ACA to establish a Prevention and Public Health Fund (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Fund’’), to be administered through the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Secretary, to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in private and public sector health care costs.

(b) FUNDING.—There are hereby authorized to be appropriated, and appropriated, to the Fund, out of any monies in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated—

(1) for fiscal year 2010, $500,000,000;
(2) for fiscal year 2011, $750,000,000;
(3) for fiscal year 2012, $1,000,000,000;
(4) for fiscal year 2013, $1,250,000,000;
(5) for fiscal year 2014, $1,500,000,000; and
(6) for fiscal year 2015, and each fiscal year thereafter, $2,000,000,000.

(c) USE OF FUND.—The Secretary shall transfer amounts in the Fund to accounts within the Department of Health and Human Services to increase funding, over the fiscal year 2008 level, for programs authorized by the Public Health Service Act, for prevention, wellness, and public health activities including prevention research and health screenings, such as the Community Transformation grant program, the Education and Outreach Campaign for Preventive Benefits, and immunization programs.

(d) TRANSFER AUTHORITY.—The Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of may provide for the transfer of funds in the Fund to eligible activities under this section, subject to subsection (c).

(read how insiders got even more $$billions below)

[Gritty]

Hey, I've got a great idea...

Let's pass a 2 year budget continuing resolution and fund it fully so ObamaCare can continue without having to suffer watching any more partisan bickering!

[hondact200]

I have even a better idea, lets end OdumbassCare right now and look at the trillions of dollars in savings and every politician in DC is to be arrested and their assets confiscated to pay off the massive debt that they have accumulated based on lies, and more lies!

[LMAO]

This will be the Top Story on the networks tonight

[xzins]

Yeah, I’m sure.

They might not have a chance to get to it, though, what with Beyoncé getting fitted for a new Halloween costume.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

CBO: ObamaCare Increases Deficit by $1.35 Trillion

But, but, but.....

[Lou L]

“Basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.”

There was a level of stupidity, or perhaps a strong suspension of disbelief on the parts of many voters who voted for Obama, especially when they thought they could get 1) everything Obama promised with healthcare reform; and 2) get it with little cost or burden.

But we cannot overlook the part the media played in all of this. How many times did we get a thorough analysis from anyone in the MSM, about Obamacare? In large part, the MSM trumpeted talking points handed to them from the White House, or they spent time shouting down any criticisms from those on the right.

Republicans have a debate today, and the next morning, a point-by-point accounting, "fact-checking" appears in the newspapers or online. Back then, Obama makes promises that defy all economic sense, and nary a question is asked...

[xzins]

We were all gonna save 2000 bucks or so, right?

And it would lower the cost of health care to the government.

And unicorns and butterflys would stand bedside to make everyone feel so darn good about life.

[LMAO]

You said...
“They might not have a chance to get to it, though, what with Beyoncé getting fitted for a new Halloween costume.”

Ok maybe they might squeeze this latest CBO report in after that. And then maybe report the economic decline after they report on what the Kardashians had for breakfast

[NohSpinZone]

Here’s the kicker. Nobody in DC is going to do jack about this because they’re all in cahoots. So we can get ourselves riled up only to get empty promises fed back to us. A pox on all houses there.

[Gritty]

I have even a better idea...

*sigh*

I guess you have the better idea...

[windsorknot]

Obamacare" is a blunder of Ceausescu-esque proportions

Would that those who shoved it down our throats face "Ceausescu-esque" consequences.