Research Briefing

That Make Harry Reid’s Updated Government-Run Health Care Experiment Just As Bad As His Last One

1.   $518.5 Billion In Tax Increases On Health Insurance, Small Businesses, And Medical Treatments.   (Senate Finance Committee Minority Staff Review Of JCT And CBO Cost Estimates, 12/19/09)

2.      $470.7 Billion In Total Cuts To Medicare And Medicaid Would Pay For Two New Unsustainable Entitlements. (Table 5, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 12/19/09)

3.      Americans Still Won't See Benefits Of This Health Care Experiment Until 2014, But They Start Paying For It In 2010. (Page 7, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 12/19/09)

4.      According To Independent Actuaries In The Obama Administration, Overall National Health Spending Will Be Increased By $239 Billion.  (Richard Foster, Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Chief Actuary, “Estimated Financial Effects Of The ‘Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Of 2009,’ As Proposed By The Senate Majority Leader On November 18, 2009,” Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services, 12/10/09)

5.    States Still Burdened With $26 Billion In Unfunded Mandates From Medicaid That Would Force Them To Increase Taxes. (Page 8, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 12/19/09)

 6.      The "Doc Fix" Provision That Would Add $250 Billion To The Deficit Is Still Not Included In The Democrats' List Price For Their Health Care Experiment. (Page 18, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 12/19/09)

7.      A New Entitlement Program For Long-Term Care That One Democrat Senator Called "A Ponzi Scheme" Would Still Be Created. (Table 5, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 12/19/09; Shailagh Murray & Lori Montgomery, "Centrists Unsure About Reid's Public Option," The Washington Post, 10/28/09)

8.      Taxpayer Dollars Would Fund Abortions. (Sec. 1303, H.R. 3590, Manager’s Amendment To The Amendment In The Nature Of A Substitute, "Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act," Introduced 11/18/09; Chris Frates, “NRLC Opposes Nelson Amendment,” Politico’s “Live Pulse” Blog, 12/19/09)

9.      Gives Vast New Authority To The Office Of Personnel Management To Administer Interstate Insurance Plans Even Though CBO Determined It Won’t Lower Premiums.  (Pages 9, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 12/19/09)

10.  An Even More Poweful New Medicare Commission Of Unelected Bureaucrats Would Ration Care. (Pages 16-17, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 12/19/09)