Pelosi Bill Price Tag Getting Bigger

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 11:13 AM

The bill has been out less than a week, and already the price tag for Pelosi's healthcare bill (click here for an initial assessment of CBO and JCT scores) is shooting up. Reports the AP:

The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, according to numerous Democratic officials and figures contained in an analysis by congressional budget experts, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan.

While the Congressional Budget Office has put the cost of expanding coverage in the legislation at roughly $1 trillion, Democrats added billions more on higher spending for public health, a reinsurance program to hold down retiree health costs, payments for preventive services and more.

Anyone surprised?

But certainly, that's still not everything, the real price tag will likely be significantly higher. Consider for example, that the "doc fix" physician reimbursement provisions are not part of the bill - just another shell game played along the lines of Harry Reid's games from last month.

But back to the AP story:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has referred repeatedly to the bill's net cost of $894 billion over a decade for coverage.

Asked about the higher estimate, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the measure not only insures 36 million more Americans, it provides critical health insurance reform in a way that is fiscally sound.

"It will not add one dime to the deficit. In fact, the CBO said last week that it will reduce the deficit both in the first 10 years and in the second 10 years," Daly said.

Which would bring us back to the problem that some people get so obsessed with their focus on the deficit, they tend to forget that there is a really bad way that will get a bill to not add to the deficit - tax increases. And of these, there certainly is no shortage in the bill. So don't get fooled by the "deficit neutrality" or "deficit reduction talk" - it is no more than snake oil designed to sell a very bad deal to taxpayers.

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