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Bend it Like Barry
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07/17/09 07:16 AM ET
In the movie “Bend it Like Beckham,” the star of the movie tries to imitate her favorite soccer star by curving the ball as she kicked it toward the goal, just like David Beckham.
President Obama has put a new spin on the Beckham shot. In his healthcare proposal, instead of curving healthcare costs toward the goal, the Obama plan bends it away from the goal.
The goal in this case is reduced healthcare costs, and according to Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf, the president’s plan, as envisioned by Senate Democrats, would rapidly expand them. As the CBO director put it, “In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount and, on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for healthcare costs.”
In other words, the president’s plan will make the dire fiscal situation in this country even worse.
It stands to reason that when the government decides to pick up the tab for those Americans who don’t want or can’t get health insurance, the price tag would put an extraordinary burden on the federal budget.
The Democrats say that having the government take over healthcare is the best way to control costs. But there is no evidence that the government can successfully spend less than the private sector, and there is a lot of evidence that it will spend a lot more in bureaucracy, waste, fraud and abuse. Check out the fraud in Medicaid and Medicare if you don’t believe me.
The bigger question is whether the government can afford to add another entitlement to its already shaky budget.
To this point, the president has said that doing so is the only way to get control over healthcare costs, but now we know that this assertion is just another case of rhetorical fiction.
As the nonpartisan (although Doug Elmendorf is a Democrat) CBO has said, the president’s bill will bend the costs the wrong way.
We can’t afford the president’s plan. And that is the bottom line.
Visit www.thefeeherytheory.com.
President Obama has put a new spin on the Beckham shot. In his healthcare proposal, instead of curving healthcare costs toward the goal, the Obama plan bends it away from the goal.
The goal in this case is reduced healthcare costs, and according to Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf, the president’s plan, as envisioned by Senate Democrats, would rapidly expand them. As the CBO director put it, “In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount and, on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for healthcare costs.”
In other words, the president’s plan will make the dire fiscal situation in this country even worse.
It stands to reason that when the government decides to pick up the tab for those Americans who don’t want or can’t get health insurance, the price tag would put an extraordinary burden on the federal budget.
The Democrats say that having the government take over healthcare is the best way to control costs. But there is no evidence that the government can successfully spend less than the private sector, and there is a lot of evidence that it will spend a lot more in bureaucracy, waste, fraud and abuse. Check out the fraud in Medicaid and Medicare if you don’t believe me.
The bigger question is whether the government can afford to add another entitlement to its already shaky budget.
To this point, the president has said that doing so is the only way to get control over healthcare costs, but now we know that this assertion is just another case of rhetorical fiction.
As the nonpartisan (although Doug Elmendorf is a Democrat) CBO has said, the president’s bill will bend the costs the wrong way.
We can’t afford the president’s plan. And that is the bottom line.
Visit www.thefeeherytheory.com.
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