Oops! Turns out Obama's cost-cutting health plan won't save a dime; cheaper to do nothing

It's probably just coincidental that bad numbers about President Obama's much-coveted healthcare legislation came out late last week when few people were paying attention.

This is the absolutely crucial healthcare reform plan that simply had to be drafted, discussed, debated, amended and passed before early August. It's supposed to cover millions more Americans and reduce the nation's soaring medical costs.

Turns out, not.

Here's a little chapter review before semester finals:

Analysts in the Obama administration's Health and Human Services Department reported Friday that the nation's $2.5-trillion annual healthcare tab will not shrink at all under the Democrats' legislative blueprint as being pushed by happy Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader in the Senate.

Instead, they said, the nation's medical costs will actually grow faster under the new bill than....

...they would if that chatty crowd of Washington spenders did absolutely nothing nada zippo about it. And even if they did pass the existing version for all that money, 24 million Americans would still remain uncovered.

"Although several provisions would help to reduce healthcare cost growth," the report said, "their impact would be more than offset through 2019 by the higher health expenditures resulting from the coverage expansions" to millions more Americans.

So there goes the cost-savings argument. And the cover-everyone plank.

Upon seeing that, some health bill proponents said, Well, spending increases of, what, maybe 7% or so weren't really too bad, even though there were supposed to be savings.

But here's the weekend's calculus on that one:

Three months ago on Sept. 9 in his urgent address to a joint session of Congress, the president argued that even a seemingly minute savings in medical expenses became huge in the long run countrywide.

Here's what he said then:

"And if we are able to slow the growth of healthcare costs by just one-tenth of 1% each year — one-tenth of 1% — it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term."

Sounds good.

Of course, that was back when we were all going to get more and better coverage for less money. So, if trimming costs by 0.1% saves $4 trillion from the exploding federal deficit, what do you suppose spending, say, .7% more will do to the federal deficit?

Speaking of the federal deficit, latest figures out before any healthcare legislation reveal that in the first two months of its first full fiscal year in office, the Obama administration spent $292 billion more than it took in.

That's $11 billion worse than the deficit in the last two months of the previous demon administration with eight years of failed policies headed by you-know-who.

That works out to $4.78 billion of spending in the hole for each of the 61 days in that period. Looks like Washington might be learning the wrong lessons from its close association with American automakers.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Obama addresses joint session Sept. 9 (Evan Vucci / Associated Press); Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Associated Press).

Comments

[drjohn]

It won't save money and it won't cover everybody. That about kills the purpose of doing anything.

I have long said that we're going to find out that the current system of health is probably the most efficient. Anything government gets into goes straight into the toilet and health care should not meet such a fate.

It's unfortunate that Democrats feel they have to pass something, even if it's something awful. Watching them thrash about making up one program after another proves how vacuous they really are.

[william]

All of the stupid "teabaggers" have been saying this from the beginning.

[A.B.]

We have a population that doesn't understand science ("I want my mammogram!" - "But it causes cancer." - "Screaming louder, "I want my mammogram!"). We have a population that doesn't understand math as the article shows.

However, they do understand that Tiger Woods has had a lot of sex. I wonder: if we cared less about what other people did in the bedroom and more about data and how to interpret it, would we have smarter kids, a better world and healthier people with more money in the bank? Just saying.

[sandinmysushi]

Very good article. Definitely opened my eyes.

[ChristineWithRegence]

In all the talk about health care reform, I don't feel like there's enough discussion about understanding the real costs of health care. Why don't we ever know the costs of health care procedures and treatments? ?" I got a kick out of this fun, short video. Check it out.
www.whatstherealcost.org/45secondstoshare

[Kaitian]

Better to do nothing? You don't say! It's always been better to do nothing because once government steps in, it creates a whole can of worms that they didn't "expect" to see but knew it was going to happen anyways.

[TrueLiesfromDC]

Bingo!
Its not about insuring the uninsurable or containing costs - its about POWER AND WEALTH DISTRIBUTION just like the climate summit in Copenhagen, Cap & Trade, TARP, Porkulous (Stimulus) and the rest of the legislation coming from the Progressives in Washington. Finally, y'all are catching on to this "Hoax & Change"!
I'm one who had taken the Red Pill (Matrix analogy) years ago and its good to see the rest are getting a reality check.

[rhys]

wow, good story.

i think if .1% cut is $4 trillion savings then 7% rise would be $2,800 trillion in spending.

[les]

Harry Reed is a lame senator who will be thrown out in 2010 who listens to him I just hope they Do Not pass this bill and start over and not do all the crap that this bill has

[Adrian]

How is this a surprise? If you look at any industry the government becomes involved in the price always goes up and the supply always goes down. If the Government got out of health care all together our system will correct its self. The Market is bound by the laws of nature and nature always wins. The Government only makes things worse. More people will have health insurance yes but will more people receive actually medical treatment? probably not. Millions of people in Canada and the UK still don't have personal physicians. Universal Health Care is a wonderful idea but It just won't work. The government needs get out of health care and only then will everyone have affordable health care.

[Kevin K]

"And even if they did pass the existing version for all that money, 24 million Americans would still remain uncovered."

The linked Reuters article states: "The report said about 57 million people would be without health insurance in 2019 under current laws. The number would be reduced by 24 million if the Senate bill is enacted, it said."

So actually 33 million would be left without insurance, which proves your point even further.

[ian]

When you only have a copay for regular doctors visits you have no idea how much the doctor's office is billing your insurance company for the visit (assuming most people don't read their statements.) If the doctor's office is billing more than your copay this system is not sustainable. If you had to pay for the doctor's visit out of pocket you would pay more attention to the actual cost of the visit, and demand better care at the cheapest cost. Having an insurance company cover every doctor's visit, etc., distorts the health care market and obviously drives up the cost. Insurance is a protection plan in case the worst happens, it's not meant to cover every single health issue people may have.

Think about it this way. When you go to the doctor for a regular visit, you are paying your insurance company to pay your bill for you when you could just do it your self. Doesn't make sense does it? Cut out the middle man and save yourself some money.

[Dee Norman]

I have read a couple of the versions of this bill. Americans should do what they can to read it, because the media is LYING to you. Surprised this article said that it is better to do nothing than pass this bill. Pull up HR 3296 and read about how the Government "Commission" puts us all in categories or as they say, "sub-populations"..... the ones on the bottom of the list are the elderly- who have paid most into Medicare. This Government entity talks to YOUR DOCTOR and decides what procedures your doctor can perform on you. You care is determined by how useful your life is to society. You all will argue and say I am wrong- but if you do a word search on this version, and put in "sub-populations" you will see it. But, I bet you all will just take Politicians word for it. No wonder this country is going to hell in a hand basket. Americans can't grow up and find out for themselves which politicians are screwing us- just listen and go along with whatever the newspapers or TV says how to vote on a bill. It pays to find out yourself.

[Piero lam]

id like to say that these are my opinions i will be glad if u correct me on anything at all and i wish to say that if you dont feel the same way as i do thats kk and this comment was not ment to offend anybody

of course this was gonna happen what you though cain will do better. NO dude we saw this ready obam even said it him self"its time of good ideas".the problem is he cant think of any. so what does he do HEALTH CARE. who will mess with the old people nobody. this is his idea to buy sometime for good ideas. if u ask me. and as much as this hurts me and will hurt all of us is 2 things one increase taxes and pay of the debtor its an all out depression. cause if u think about this BRILLIANT PLAN OBAMA though about for a second you would know. how the heck in the world do you save money by spending money? shuu if he knew that we wouldnt be in this mess. health care wont help. obama we have something called medicare some of us use it. now is the time to think why are people helping you. now its the time to be happy you have something IF you do. now is the time to pay off the debt before this snowball effect keeps getting bigger. now its the time to pay what we did and not wait for our kids to do it. what kind of sick man passes the bill to the kid and then talks proad about it likes its a excelent plan that cannot fail.

also one thing do u think economers dint know the numbers were messed up? you dint think they new that? but rember if too many people know THE ALL MIGHTY ONE has no idea what so ever. and his best intention is for us to have a longer life expentcy so we live longer and pay off the debt.
money is hard to get these days 1000 dollars will not pay for anything . THE MIGHTY ONE thinks that if he helps a few people. the chinesee will say aww the poor americans lets for give them and eraise all the debt. NO this what they are gonna say they are organize planned and have worked for us a long time but if they dont give us our money we are gonna have some problems

[WilDaMA]

The real reason why the public option and expanding Medicare has been dropped. Though the Democrats will do all they can to try and blame the Republican obstructionists and/or use Lieberman as a scapegoat. Reid and Pelosi must also be thanking their lucky stars for Tiger Woods

[Anonymous]

People you need to view the facts and stop listening to what people tell you. Go to www.whitehouse.gov. Why believe everything you read and hear? I could give a crap about Tiger Woods...have you ever watched Sicko? How could you say that the current plans that are available are good when many Americans
aren't able to be insured because of current health conditions-fact. A woman that is pregnant can not be insured, so she is forced to get welfare insurance if she did not have health insurance prior to becoming pregnant. Just read the facts of how the new reform will be funded and then and only then, make your comments. It I furiates me that people believe what these lobbyist have to say when they are already anti-Obama and his administration. To add the elderly pay too much now because of Bush and the reform he signed in 2003. A change has to be made.. And now