Price Tag for Dems’ Gov’t Healthcare Takeover Just Won’t Stop Increasing

March 5, 2012

Cost Estimates Continue to Show Dems’ Unaffordable Healthcare Disaster Slamming Taxpayers with Huge Direct and Indirect Expenses

· Nearly two years after the passage of Democrats’ disastrous government healthcare takeover, the price tag still won’t stop increasing. Democrats are now asking for $111 billion more to implement a healthcare disaster that already started off with a trillion dollar price-tag.

· There is strong evidence that the healthcare law is also contributing to rising premiums, meaning that Democrats are now essentially asking for more taxpayer money in order to implement policies that will make healthcare more expensive.

· It’s little surprise then that wide majorities of Americans continue to support repeal of Democrats’ government healthcare takeover and believe its key provisions are unconstitutional.

Nearly two years after the passage of Democrats’ disastrous government healthcare takeover, the price tag still won’t stop increasing. Democrats are now asking for $111 billion more to implement a healthcare disaster that already started off with a trillion dollar price-tag:

DEMOCRATS ASKING FOR $111B TO PAY FOR GOV’T HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER: “Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) is asking about a spike in the estimated costs of subsidies to help people buy private insurance — a central, and expensive, component of the new healthcare law.

“The administration’s budget request this year included $111 billion more for subsidies than its request last year. The difference falls across the same seven-year window.” (Sam Baker, “Republican Probes $111 Billion Jump in Cost of Healthcare Law,” The Hill, 3/2/2012)

PER PERSON COST OF DEMOCRATS’ LATEST HEALTHCARE MISTAKE: $355 FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA: (“U.S. POPClock Projection,” U.S. Census Bureau, 3/2/2012)

CBO REPORT PREDICTS HEALTHCARE SPENDING UNDER DEM HEALTHCARE DISASTER WILL BALLOON OUT OF CONTROL TO $1.8 TRILLION: “…[S]pending on federal health care programs will more than double, from $847 billion, or 5.5 percent of GDP, in 2012, to $1.8 trillion, or 7.3 percent of GDP, by 2022.” (Philip Klein, “CBO report shows Obamacare’s ballooning costs,” The Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential Blog, 1/31/12)

YET ANOTHER OBAMACARE PROGRAM EXPECTED TO “MORE THAN DOUBLE INITIAL PROJECTIONS” IN COST: “Medical costs for enrollees in the health-care law’s high-risk insurance pools are expected to more than double initial predictions, the Obama administration said Thursday in a report on the new program.

“The health-care law set aside $5 billion for a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, meant to provide health insurance to those who had been declined coverage by private carriers. Since its launch last summer, nearly 50,000 Americans have enrolled in the program.” (Sarah Kliff, “Per Person Cost of Federal High-Risk Medical Plan Doubles,” The Washington Post, 2/24/2012)

There is strong evidence that the healthcare law is also contributing to rising premiums, meaning that Democrats are now essentially asking for more taxpayer money in order to implement policies that will make healthcare more expensive:

HEALTHCARE PREMIUMS CONTINUE TO CLIMB: “The cost of health insurance for many Americans this year climbed more sharply than in previous years, outstripping any growth in workers’ wages and adding more uncertainty abou the pace of rising medical costs.” (Reed Abelson, “Health Insurance Costs Rising Sharply This Year, Study Shows,” The New York Times, 9/27/2011)

FACTCHECK.ORG: DEMS’ HEALTHCARE DISASTER IS INCREASING PREMIUMS: “At the moment, the new law is making healthcare slightly less affordable. Independent healthcare experts say the law has caused some insurance premiums to rise. As we wrote in October, the new healthcare law has caused about a 1 to 3 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans because of requirements for increased benefits. Last year’s premium increases cast even more doubt on another promise the president has made–that the healthcare law would ‘lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.'” (D’Angelo Gore, “Promises, Promises,” FactCheck.org, 1/4/2012)

GALLUP: 48% OF SMALL BUSINESSES NOT HIRING BECAUSE OF AFRAID OF THE RISING COST OF HEALTHCARE: (Dennis Jacobe, “Health Costs, Gov’t Regulations Curb Small Business Hiring,” Gallup, 2/15/2012)

FLASHBACK: DEMOCRAT LEADER NANCY PELOSI CLAIMED DEMOCRATS HAD “TO PASS THE BILL SO THAT YOU CAN FIND OUT WHAT IS IN IT”: (David Freddoso, “Pelosi on Health Care: ‘We Have to Pass the Bill So You Can Find Out What Is In It,” The Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog, 3/9/2010)

It’s little surprise then that wide majorities of Americans continue to support repeal of Democrats’ government healthcare takeover and believe its key provisions are unconstitutional:

USA TODAY POLL: 50% SAY GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER WAS “A BAD THING,” ONLY 42% SAY A GOOD THING: (Susan Page, “Swing States Poll: Health Care Law Hurts Obama in 2012,” USA Today, 2/27/2012)

IN SWING STATES, 53% SAY HEALTHCARE LAW WAS “A BAD THING” AND ONLY 38% SUPPORT IT: (Susan Page, “Swing States Poll: Health Care Law Hurts Obama in 2012,” USA Today, 2/27/2012)

GALLUP: 72% OF AMERICANS, INCLUDING 56% OF DEMOCRATS, SAY INDIVIDUAL MANDATE TO BUY INSURANCE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL: (Jeffrey M. Jones, “Americans Divided on Repeal of 2010 Healthcare Law,” Gallup, 2/27/2012)