ObamaCare’s $500 Billion Ticking Cost Bomb

July 10, 2012

Taxpayers’ Tab for ObamaCare Could Be $500 Billion Higher After Court Decision

ObamaCare is a ticking cost bomb that is poised to explode—to the tune of as much as $500 billion in new spending.
Americans struggling under the Obama economy simply can’t afford ObamaCare, which has increased healthcare costs instead of bringing them down as Democrats promised.
The rising cost of ObamaCare hasn’t stopped Democrats from throwing even more taxpayer funds at risky new healthcare projects that are likely to fail.

ObamaCare is a ticking cost bomb that is poised to explode—to the tune of as much as $500 billion in new spending:

“ANALYSIS: RULING ADDS HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS TO HEALTHCARE LAW COSTS”: (Elise Viebeck, “Analysis: Ruling Adds Hundreds of Billions to Healthcare Law Costs,” The Hill, 6/29/2012)

$500 BILLION IN NEW COSTS FOR TAXPAYERS OVER OBAMACARE’S FIRST 10 YEARS: “He [former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin] added, ‘It seems safe to say that the [health law] will leave the taxpayer on the hook for an additional $500 billion or so in federal costs over the first 10 years.’” (Elise Viebeck, “Analysis: Ruling Adds Hundreds of Billions to Healthcare Law Costs,” The Hill, 6/29/2012)

Americans struggling under the Obama economy simply can’t afford ObamaCare, which has increased healthcare costs instead of bringing them down as Democrats promised:

PROMISE BROKEN: OBAMACARE WOULD REDUCE THE DEFICIT: PELOSI: “ ‘The bill is fiscally sound, will not add one dime to the deficit,’ Pelosi proclaimed.” (Chris Good, “Pelosi: Health Care Bill Reduces Deficit, Spends More Than Senate Bill,” The Atlantic, 10/29/2009)

MEDICARE TRUSTEE: OBAMACARE TO ADD AT LEAST $340 BILLION TO THE DEFICIT: (Lori Montgomery, “Health-care Law Will Add $340 Billion to Deficit, New Study Finds,” The Washington Post, 4/9/2012)

OBAMACARE TO COST $1.76 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS: (Phillip Klein, “CBO: ObamaCare to Cost $1.76 Trillion Over 10 Years,” The Washington Examiner, 3/13/2012)

PROMISE BROKEN: VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: GOAL OF OBAMACARE IS “BENDING THE COST CURVE”: “But, look, I think, if I can lay out, Mr. President, what I think we all agree on, and then figure out whether as a way to deal with the deficit end of this — bending the cost curve, to use a phrase you and many others have used, Mr. President.” (“Remarks by The President In Discussion of the Deficit at Bipartisan Meeting on Health Care Reform,” The White House, 2/25/2010)

CBO: HEALTHCARE COSTS ARE RISING AND RISING FASTER: “Specifically, if current laws remained in place, spending on the major federal health care programs alone would grow from more than 5 percent of GDP today to almost 10 percent in 2037 and would continue to increase thereafter.” (“The 2012 Long-Term Budget Outlook,” Congressional Budget Office, 6/5/2012)

PER-CAPITA HEALTHCARE SPENDING GROWING 1.6% FASTER THAN GDP: (Press Release, “Rising Costs Could Double Federal Health Care Spending and Push Debt to 200 Percent of GDP by 2037,” House Energy and Commerce Committee, 6/5/2012)

DRIVEN IN LARGE PART BY RISING HEALTHCARE COSTS, THE DEBT IS SET TO DOUBLE THE SIZE OF THE ECONOMY: (Erik Wasson, “CBO Warns of Grim Long-Term Debt Outlook,” The Hill, 6/5/2012)

The rising cost of ObamaCare hasn’t stopped Democrats from throwing even more taxpayer funds at risky new healthcare projects that are likely to fail:

OBAMACARE HAS HHS PLAYING “VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTOR”: “Perhaps you thought that the Affordable Care Act is all about making insurance more affordable. Too bad no one told Americans that the law also turned the Health and Human Services Department into a giant venture capital investor for health care. This won’t turn out well. Awash in ObamaCare dollars, HHS has a growing investment portfolio that includes everything from new insurance companies to health-care start-ups to information technology.” (Editorial, “Fannie Med,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/4/2012)

BUT AS HHS IS DOLING OUT OBAMACARE CASH, THE INSPECTOR GENERAL CAN BARELY MONITOR THE AGENCY AS IS: “The HHS inspector general revealed this year that his team can barely monitor HHS because its staff is too busy chasing the criminals exploiting HHS’s incompetence. Experts disagree about how much is stolen from taxpayers through entitlement fraud—the Government Accountability Office puts it at $48 billion annually—but one sign of the problem is that Medicare allows doctors (or “doctors”) to register for billing privileges as ‘other.’” (Editorial, “Fannie Med,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/4/2012)

OBAMACARE IS FUNDING HIGH-RISK HEALTHCARE “CO-OPS”: “One particular ObamaCare boondoggle that needs fly-specking is the HHS decision to finance nonprofit insurance companies with up to $7.25 billion in ultra-low-cost loans. These co-ops were a consolation prize for liberals after Democratic opposition killed the government-run public option, and the co-ops are supposed to be managed by and for consumers.” (Editorial, “Fannie Med,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/4/2012)

HHS OFFICIALLY PREDICTS 35-40% OBAMACARE CO-OP LOAN DEFAULT RATE: “HHS officially estimates that the default rate on the loans will hit between 35% and 40%, which would be bad enough.” (Editorial, “Fannie Med,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/4/2012)

BUT WHITE HOUSE BUDGET ESTIMATES SHOW FAILURE RATE COULD BE UP TO 91% AND $3.1 BILLION DOWN THE DRAIN: “But White House budget documents show that HHS expects to lose $3.1 billion of the $3.4 billion appropriated so far—which implies a default rate of 91%. The lack of accountability to shareholders or capital markets may help explain this propensity for failure.” (Editorial, “Fannie Med,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/4/2012)