With Barack Obama insisting that his government-run health care proposals be adopted before the August recess, he is probably better off without the truth being known.
So is his Administration, who can put off their lame excuses until next month. And his Party in Congress, that will not have to be bothered by its public knowledge dragging down its legislative agenda, most especially their Dear Leader’s top-tier agenda item.
The fact is, the truth stinks. And the truth is this: We’re broke, and we cannot afford to ensure health coverage for “all Americans” as is now proposed in Congress.
This year, the budget deficit is going to be higher than Barack Obama and his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had projected in May at $1.841 trillion. And maybe even more than the Congressional Budget Office has projected at $1.845 trillion.
The OMB’s May revision was over its February projection of $1.75 trillion. It just keeps getting worse for the American people as revenue expectations keep dropping in light of a steep recession.
And all of that doesn’t bode well for what is guaranteed to be a costly piece of legislation when all is said and done.
So, the mid-summer update, which usually occurs in the middle of July, is being delayed, the OMB says, “[b]ecause of the unique circumstances of a transition year.”
Yeah, like ramming a radical agenda through Congress before most Americans realize what happened.
House Republican Leader John Boehner sees it the same way: “Let’s be honest about what this is: an attempt to hide a record-breaking deficit as Democratic leaders break arms to rush through a government takeover of health care.”
Boehner believes that if the truth were known, Congress would be more cautious about passing Obama’s risky schemes: “The Congressional Budget Office confirmed last week that the Democrats’ plans will increase health care costs and add hundreds of billions to the deficit. Try as they might, the White House cannot hide the fact that the policies of this Administration have buried our children and grandchildren under historic debt.”
The largest debt ever, in fact: $11.4 trillion. The largest deficit ever: $1.845 trillion, maybe more. The largest proposed budget in human history: $3.6 trillion. See a pattern here?
And now, Obama wants Congress to double-down on a risky bet by hastily enacting a trillion-dollar, government-run health care program that is certain to permanently shackle the American people to a mountain of debt that can never possibly be paid back.
It’s true. Just last week, the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Douglas Elmendorf, delivered devastating testimony that “the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care.”
In other words, it will only add to a projected budget deficit which may ultimately top $2 trillion.
How do we know? As ALG News recently reported in “The Hidden Cost of ObamaCare,” under the House version of the so-called public “option,” individuals up to 400 percent of the poverty level, or making approximately $43,320 or less annually, will be eligible for some level of health coverage under the plan whether through the public “option,” Medicaid, or otherwise.
Or, 91.5 million people as of 2006 aged 25-65 who fell into that income bracket, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Throw in the 35 million who were 65 and older at that time, and the total figure comes to over 125.8 million eligible for ObamaCare, compared with 80.5 million who now receive their health care from the government.
As a result, approximately 45 million more people—the exact figure the Census Bureau reports as being uninsured—will be receiving their health care from Uncle Sam.
And, how can health care be provided to 45 million more people by the government in a “deficit-neutral” matter, as the Obama Administration has promised?
It can’t. At an average cost of $4,700 for a health insurance premium, according to the National Coalition on Health Care, future budget deficits will have be revised upward by some $211.5 billion should the bill pass as proposed.
Meaning if the so-called public “option” was fully implemented this year, the deficit would most certainly top $2 trillion. So, the truth stinks. And the thing Barack Obama has to learn is that he can no longer hide from it.
Robert Romano is the ALG Senior News Editor.
