Uncomfortable Health Facts
by John Goodman
Issue 138 - August 26, 2009

I actually feel a bit sorry for them. President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress got some very, very bad advice from health policy experts they relied on during the past election. It was the same bad advice they have been getting year after year, election after election, for as far back as memory serves.

But now that it is time to legislate, these politicians must face real economists who look at evidence over at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Although the CBO Director and staff are appointed by Congressional Democrats, they are professionals and they have been willing to stand up to the pressure and essentially say that last year's campaign rhetoric was hogwash.

Here are some of the uncomfortable facts Congress is hearing from the CBO:

• All of the cost-saving ideas mentioned by Barack Obama during last year's election campaign — preventive medicine, electronic medical records, coordinated care, etc. — will in fact save very little money.
  

• Spending an additional $100 billion to $150 billion every year on health care will make the cost problem worse, not better.
  

• Capping out-of-pocket premium costs to people at, say, 12.5% of family income and forcing employers and/or government to pay the balance will create a new entitlement to be added to our already unsustainable entitlement spending burdens.
  

• The cost of any employer mandate will be passed on to employees — in the form of less take-home pay, if they are lucky enough to keep their jobs at all.
  

• To add insult to injury, the CBO is also telling Congress that one way costs could be controlled is by changing the way the federal government subsidizes private health insurance — along the lines suggested by John McCain during the election and in a bill by Sens. Tom Coburn and Richard Burr and Reps. Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes.

So, do we here at the NCPA take the low road and say, "I told you so," or the high road of magnanimity?

I'm thinking about it.  

John Goodman is President and CEO/Kellye Wright Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. 

Post this article to your Facebook profile