Nobel Economist Gary Becker: It's A Bad Bill, But We're Stuck With It

In a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, Nobel Economist Gary Becker explains how health care reform could have been made to actually work. You know, reduce costs and meet demand?

"The health-care legislation? It's a bad bill," Mr. Becker replies. "Health care in the United States is pretty good, but it does have a number of weaknesses. This bill doesn't address them. It adds taxation and regulation. It's going to increase health costs—not contain them."

Drafting a good bill would have been easy, he continues. Health savings accounts could have been expanded. Consumers could have been permitted to purchase insurance across state lines, which would have increased competition among insurers. The tax deductibility of health-care spending could have been extended from employers to individuals, giving the same tax treatment to all consumers. And incentives could have been put in place to prompt consumers to pay a larger portion of their health-care costs out of their own pockets..."

Go right now and read the rest at CARPE DIEM. You need to read the post at CARPE DIEM if for nothing more than the outstanding graph at the top of the post. I was shocked to find out what it shows.

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HCR: Done; Public Option: Next

If you're wondering just how tone deaf the liberals in Congress are, get a load of this. The house liberal caucus is set to introduce new legislation to 'revive the public option.'

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), the co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she plans to unveil legislation to add the government-run option to the national healthcare exchange established by legislation President Barack Obama is to sign tomorrow.

"We will introduce a robust public option bill on the very day the president signs the reconciliation bill into law," Woolsey said Monday during an interview on MSNBC.

This has been the goal from day one, and the Democrats are closer than they ever should have been to getting it done. If there is any fight left in your body, you'd better begin to voice your opposition to this latest effort to completely destroy the private sector health insurance business and personal medical choice rights.

Make no mistake, this will drive the final nail into the coffin of the greatest health care system that the world had ever known. When the public option goes into effect, the last traces of the private medical system in the United States will be replaced with an NHS and Canadian style health care system. Write, call, email, throw a brick or a coffin, whatever you have to do to get your Congress critter to listen to you. Public Option: DO NOT WANT!

HT: QandO

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Party of Compassion Supports Increased Taxes For Wounded Soldiers?

Ooh, did we forget to mention the 10% medical device tax?  Yeah, we're going to need that.

I am shocked, SHOCKED I say. I would never have fathomed that the benevolent party full of racist, murdering, lying, cheating, stealing Democrats would go on record opposing a tax exemption for wounded soldiers. And yet, that's exactly what they've done. Along with endorsing additional taxes for cancer patients, voting against an amendment to deny E.D. drugs to sex offenders, and, well see below. From Michelle, via Moonbattery:

* Amendment to Remove Sweetheart Deals, Bribes, and Payoffs - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Bar Tax Hikes on Families Earning Under $250,000 - voted down by
* Amendment to Remove the Employer Mandate - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Require the President and Congress Enroll in Exchange - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Prevent Sex Offenders from Receiving E.D. Drugs - voted down by Democrats on a party-line vote
* Amendment to Remove New Taxes on Investments - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Protect Wounded Soldiers from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Protect Pediatrics and Disabled from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Protect Cancer Patients from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats

So, who wants to make a campaign commercial first? This is a gold mine, and as such should be exploited for it's natural resources, namely the ouster of Democrats from office in November.

Was this a thinly disguised effort by Senate Republicans to attempt to derail the health care bill, yes. However, it paints a very clear distinction between Republicans and Democrats. If Republicans know what is good for them, they'll beat this like the rented mule that it is.

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The Health Care Myth Perpetrated By Obama

iOwnTheWorld has a post up this morning covering the health care myths perpetrated by candidate and President Obama versus the reality. It's a great post, excerpted from Huff'n Puff so be sure to check out the iOwnTheWorld post, and spare yourself the eye infection you're sure to receive at Ariana's place. Here are a few of the Myths and Facts:

Myth 1: This is a universal health care bill.

Fact: The bill is neither universal health care nor universal health insurance. According to the Congressional Budget Office:

* Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million
* Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate bill: 24 million

Myth 4: The bill will make health care affordable for middle class Americans.

Fact: The bill will impose a financial hardship on middle class Americans who will be forced to buy a product that they can’t afford to use.

A family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income — out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which families will be responsible.

Myth 6: This bill provides health care to 31 million people who are currently uninsured.

Fact: This bill will mandate that millions of people who are currently uninsured purchase insurance from private companies, or the IRS will collect up to 2% of their annual income in penalties. Some will be assisted with government subsidies.

Myth 7: You can keep the insurance you have if you like it.

Fact: The excise tax will result in employers switching to plans with higher co-pays and fewer covered services.
Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health care will be forced to pay much more in out-of-pocket expenses than they do now.

iOwnTheWord has great blogging and some of the best photohshop work and comedic creations I've ever come across. Be sure to stop by!

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Tell Them How You Really Feel

Fair warning, you may need to employ earmuffs. Or eyemuffs as it were.

So, let's take a poll: Would you say that you generally pleased with the outcome of the 'health care reform' bill and process? Or, would you say that you're f#cking pissed and you want blood revenge. Well if you chose the later, then you're feelings are in line with about 98 percent of the country judging from these headlines at Memeorandum.

Democrats care about few things, but one of the those things which they treasure above most others would be power. They know that by creating a new entitlement, they have in effect created a more dependent society which will be less likely to desire the overturn of the welfare that has been given them. This also means that when it comes time for elections, the numb, fat and dumb voter is more than likely going to choose the Democrat candidate versus the jerk that's trying to cut his medicare, welfare, health care, etc.

Back to the present and the overwhelming anger aimed at Democrats, over which they are indignant. From Politico:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is warning that some of his Democratic colleagues are being threatened with violence when they go back to their districts — and he wants Republicans to stand up and condemn the threats.

The Maryland Democrat said more than 10 House Democrats have reported incidents of threats or other forms of harassment about their support of the highly divisive health insurance overhaul vote. Hoyer emphasized that he didn’t have a specific number of threats and that was just an estimate.

TheFederal Bureau of Investigation, Capitol Police and sergeant at arms briefed Democrats behind closed doors today about the incidents of violence — the most high profile of which have been toward Democratic Reps. Thomas Perriello of Virginia, Steve Driehaus of Ohio and Louise Slaughter of New York.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34953.html#ixzz0jAWkL1EM

From The Hill:

House Democratic and Republican leaders have conferred to discuss a response to a "significant" number of threats against lawmakers.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that he, along with Democratic and Republican leaders, have discussed new security precautions that lawmakers should take after a spike in threats to lawmakers following a controversial healthcare vote this past weekend.

"Any member who feels themselves at risk is getting attention from the proper authority," Hoyer said during brief remarks on Wednesday.

From The New York Times:

Democratic lawmakers have received death threats and been the victims of vandalism because of their votes in favor of the health care bill, lawmakers and law enforcement officials said Wednesday, as the Congressional debate over the issue headed toward a bitter and divisive conclusion.

Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, said at least 10 House members had raised concerns about their personal security since Sunday’s climactic vote, and Mr. Hoyer characterized the cases as serious.

At least two Congressional district offices were vandalized and Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a senior Democrat from New York, received a phone message threatening sniper attacks against lawmakers and their families.

Ms. Slaughter also reported that a brick was thrown through a window of her office in Niagara Falls, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, said Monday that her Tucson office was vandalized after the vote.

Are you beginning to get the picture here?

From CNN:

Democratic congressional leaders Wednesday demanded Republicans join them in condemning a spate of threats and vandalism that has followed Sunday's vote on a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

More than 10 Democrats have reported trouble since the weekend vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters. Windows have been smashed at Democratic offices in at least three states, and federal agents were investigating whether a cut gas line at the home of a Virginia congressman's brother was related to the lawmaker's yes vote.

Democracy "is not about violence," Hoyer said at a news conference with South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives.

And on, and on, and on...

The American people have not been so unitedly against something since, damn I dunno, Prohibition. Yet the Democrats are proud enough of this legislation as to wear it as a badge of honor. Excuse me if I don't just jump down and kiss your feet as you walk by because you've decided how my health care should be provided, by whom and at what cost. Oh, and fuck you for driving good, honest people out of business because of your damn burdensome, redistributive taxes, ass monkeys. As if it wasn't hard enough to find a job in this goddam economy. I'm very tempted to grab a brick.

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Just A Reminder: Democrats Are Racists

Just a friendly reminder, Democrats legislate racism. BTW, the Senate bill that is referenced in the post is the same Senate bill that was just signed into law by PeeBo.  You're welcome.
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His Hands Were Tied UPDATED Opponent Information Added

Last week there was a stunning bit of honesty from Tom Perriello (D-VA) regarding the power and money grabbing tendencies in Washington DC.



Any guesses as to who voted for another power/money grab? You guessed it, Tom Perriello. Listed below are the 36 Democrats who opposed the 'health care reform' bill, and absent from the list is one Tom Perriello.

Rep. John Adler (N.J.)
Rep. Jason Altmire (Pa.)
Rep. Michael Arcuri (N.Y.)
Rep. John Barrow (Ga.)
Rep. Marion Berry (Ark.)
Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.)
Rep. Rick Boucher (Va.)
Rep. Bobby Bright (Ala.)
Rep. Ben Chandler (Ky.)
Rep. Travis Childers (Miss.)
Rep. Artur Davis (Ala.)
Rep. Lincoln Davis (Tenn.)
Rep. Chet Edwards (Texas)
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.)
Rep. Tim Holden (Pa.)
Rep. Larry Kissell (N.C.)
Rep. Frank Kratovil (Md.)
Rep. Dan Lipinski (Ill.)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (Mass.)
Rep. Jim Marshall (Ga.)
Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (N.C.)
Rep. Mike McMahon (N.Y.)
Rep. Charlie Melancon (La.)
Rep. Walt Minnick (Idaho)
Rep. Glenn Nye (Va.)
Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Rep. Mike Ross (Ark.)
Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.)
Rep. Zack Space (Ohio)
Rep. John Tanner (Tenn.)
Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.)
Rep. Harry Teague (N.M.)

Anyone in Virginia have something to say about that?

---

Update:

There are several candidates running in the GOP primary for this seat. Although there is no definitive leader as of yet, Robert Hurt is polling ahead of the pack.

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Health Care Tips, From Our Sibling To The North

I really used to hate Canadians. No, I mean it. With they way they slaughter the pronunciation of any word with 'ou' in it. But, you know, I got over it and I'm glad I did because we have some good friends up there who are looking out (pronounced owt, not oat) for us. Take Right Girl for example. She is looking out for us suckers to the south (pronounced sowth, not soath) and passing along a little medical care 101. God Bless Her!

So Americans, here’s a few tips, from one “free” “health” “care” sucker to another:

* Expand your home first aid kit to include a defibrillator, gallons of rubbing alcohol, ether if you can get your hands on it, and a dozen brand-new, sparkling clean x-acto knives
* Learn to give stitches
* Get over any squeamishness about lancing boils or any other messy-but-simple procedures - you’re on your own now
* Keep enough cold medicine on hand, and don’t run to the doctor for sore throats
* Learn to recognize dangerous childhood diseases like meningitis and appendicitis, because publicly paid doctors usually skip that course, especially if they were trained in Cameroon
* Locate your nearest large animal veterinarian, and pay them well to take x-rays and MRIs

Another great friend from the north is Mr. Mayor. He also has some sage advice for us Yankees. Be sure to check out his post, but fair warning on the animated gif. Just saying...

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Oblivious Statement of the Day

H/T Treacher:

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Luke Russert just said that one member who voted for the legislation last night told him (this may be a slight paraphrase): I’m glad I don’t have to go back to my district and talk about this again.

These people are so in touch, it's scary.

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So Begins The Process

Reuters is reporting that at least 9 states are prepared to file suit alleging that Obamacare is an infringement upon states rights:

"On behalf of the State of Florida and of the Attorneys General from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alabama if the President signs this bill into law, we will file a lawsuit to protect the rights and the interests of American citizens."

I can't see that this is going to hurt, but it's a long shot. It's also a long shot for Republicans to overturn and/or repeal the effects of the bill in November. The Republicans will have to have a 2/3rds majority to overturn any veto by the President. Even the most generous predictions at this point do not have the Republicans picking up that many seats.

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BREAKING: Health Care Reform Passes In House

Hot Air has the vote count.

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David Frum Still Doesn't Get It

Don't tease, David!

David Frum, former Bush speach writer, and current self-loathing Republican has a post over at 'The Frum Forum.' In it, he lays a significant amount of the blame for the passage of health care upon Conservatives:

At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.

This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.

Could a deal have been reached? Who knows? But we do know that the gap between this plan and traditional Republican ideas is not very big. The Obama plan has a broad family resemblance to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan. It builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.

Barack Obama badly wanted Republican votes for his plan. Could we have leveraged his desire to align the plan more closely with conservative views? To finance it without redistributive taxes on productive enterprise – without weighing so heavily on small business – without expanding Medicaid? Too late now. They are all the law.

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.

The causes which Frum fails to blame for the legislative loss are many, here are a few.

1. The Democrats held, for most of the process, an insurmountable super majority.

The Democrats had huge majorities in both chambers of congress, allowing them to craft a bill with no input from the minority party. They also used tactics rarely seen in Washington, including locking the minority party out of negotiations on the final iterations of legislation.

2. Democrats in Congress, absolutely refused to listen to their constituents, and the citizenry of the United States.

As mentioned previously, the Democrats engaged in behavior seldom seen in Washington, DC. The Democrats knew from the moment they achieved the dramatic majority in both houses of Congress, and the Presidency what thier objective was. It mattered not whether, or how much, their constituents were against the legislation. This has been referred to in times past as taxation without representation.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that we all lost.
It does not matter your politics, the nation as a whole lost when the 'Health Care Reform' bill was enacted. Government control, increased bureaucracy, rationed care, reduced access to treatments, etc. These are the reasons that we all lost, David.

Without Frum's sharp wit, where would this party be? Considering that no one has been listening to him for the last 5 years, I'd say our prospects in November look pretty damn good. Wouldn't you?

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Stupak Holds All The Power, Maybe...

Once again, it comes down to the anti-abortion coalition within the Democrat party, headed by Bart Stupak (emphasis mine):

There have been various reports on Sunday that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and other anti-abortion lawmakers have agreed to an abortion deal involving an executive order from the Obama administration. However, Stupak's office are strongly denying those reports.

Even though several Democratic leaders said they had the votes on Saturday, Stupak said on Sunday he and others were involved in intense negotiations with the White House late on Saturday night. The Saturday night talks strongly suggest Democrats are short of the 216 necessary.

On Sunday morning, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Democratic leaders did not have 216 hard commitments.

Some believe there are a few lawmakers on The Hill's Firm No, Leaning No, Likely No list who could vote yes, including Reps. Marion Berry (Ark.), Rick Boucher (Va.) and Mike McMahon (N.Y.) and perhaps others.

The problem for Pelosi is that is she gets Stupak on board, she may lose abortion rights legislators, such as Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.).

Keep praying to the G_d of free markets and private medicine, this thing ain't over yet.

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Former CBO Director: Here Are The Real HCR Numbers

As the future of the country sits upon the precipice of a toilet bowl, some enlightening numbers from a former CBO Director.

In a NYT Op-Ed, former CBO Director, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, lays out what the true numbers are for the Senate drafted health care bill. Buh bye deficit reduction!

ON Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that, if enacted, the latest health care reform legislation would, over the next 10 years, cost about $950 billion, but because it would raise some revenues and lower some costs, it would also lower federal deficits by $138 billion. In other words, a bill that would set up two new entitlement spending programs — health insurance subsidies and long-term health care benefits — would actually improve the nation’s bottom line.

Could this really be true? How can the budget office give a green light to a bill that commits the federal government to spending nearly $1 trillion more over the next 10 years?

The answer, unfortunately, is that the budget office is required to take written legislation at face value and not second-guess the plausibility of what it is handed. So fantasy in, fantasy out.

In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion.

Mr. Holtz-Eakin details what we know, i.e. taxation starts immediately with benefits being pushed out 3 years, as well as a few things we didn't:

Consider, too, the fate of the $70 billion in premiums expected to be raised in the first 10 years for the legislation’s new long-term health care insurance program. This money is counted as deficit reduction, but the benefits it is intended to finance are assumed not to materialize in the first 10 years, so they appear nowhere in the cost of the legislation.

Another vivid example of how the legislation manipulates revenues is the provision to have corporations deposit $8 billion in higher estimated tax payments in 2014, thereby meeting fiscal targets for the first five years. But since the corporations’ actual taxes would be unchanged, the money would need to be refunded the next year. The net effect is simply to shift dollars from 2015 to 2014.

Make sure to read it in it's entirety, even if it's only academic at this point.

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Costa IS Costing Ya

You know it's bad when your own party wants to toss you...

Representative Jim Costa (D-Fresno) announced that he will vote for the Senate version of the health care bill. Costa shot to national attention this past week over allegations that he and another Valley Democrat, Cardoza (D-Modesto), were being bribed with water in order to secure a yes vote.

Costa joined Cardoza and a third valley Dem, Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, in ending the "will they or won't they" speculation Saturday saying they were satisfied with the proposal after reading the bill's fine print.

"For me, it boils down to this: Who makes the important health care decisions in our country - patients, their families and their doctors, or insurance companies?" Costa said in his release. "I was not willing to make a final decision on my vote until I saw the actual language in the bill to protect patients from losing their insurance coverage, from having their rates jacked through the ceiling, and from being denied coverage by insurance companies."

The language satisfied his concerns, he said.

He said 28 percent of the constituents in his district are uninsured and this bill, which he called "fiscally responsible," is first step to bridge that gap.

Apparently the NYT and the WAPO were able to sniff out the discrepancies in the reported numbers from the CBO, but Costa couldn't. But then again, we only elect the best and the brightest to Congress, right Alcee Hastings?

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11th Hour Reprieve?

Slaughter Solution, slaughtered?

Is this a sign that Obamacare is headed for the trash heap? Or is it a sign that Pelosi feels she now has the votes that she needs on both bills to get them to pass separately?

Top Democrats confirmed Saturday that the House would hold separate votes on the Senate healthcare bill and the reconciliation bill, making fixes to it.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of the chief deputy whips, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), all of whom said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won't use the tactic of deem and pass for healthcare reform.

The move effectively kills the "deem and pass" strategy Democrats had been eyeing to make changes to the Senate bill through a rule on the bill, which at the same time would have deemed the original Senate healthcare bill to have passed the House.

The House appears set now to move toward an up-or-down vote on the Senate healthcare bill, as well as a separate, up-or-down vote on the series of changes to that bill. There will still be a vote on the rule, as there always is for a piece of legislation, though it will not package the two bills together.

Democrats moved toward separating the votes after several members, including Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), had said they could not support the procedural maneuver.

Cardoza confirmed the change in position by House leadership during a Rules Committee meeting Saturday afternoon.

Several on the right are optimistic that this could mean an end to the House adopting the Senate bill. However, there is speculation swirling that Pelosi has enough support for both bills separately to get the votes to pass the bills. Ed Morrissey, however, believes that this gives Pelosi an out:

...remember that DemonPass was intended to protect Dems opposed to the Cadillac Tax and other issues in the Senate bill. The politics of the bill have only become more fraught since they floated that strategy, which could mean that Democrats now think it won’t pass — and need a reason for its demise other than a failure of Pelosi to whip the count.

It will be interesting to see if there is enough time left to get a vote count before the actual vote is taken. I am trying not to be pessimistic, however, that is my nature...

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Something Stinks: NYT and WAPO Admit CBO Numbers Don't Pass Smell Test

Pretty sure this is not the CBO that NYT or WAPO were referring to...

Via Yid With Lid:

The WAPO analysis, pointed out that it is just an estimate and no one really knows for sure how the bills costs will really shake out and his particular estimate is more shaky than usual.

Budget experts generally have high praise for the work of CBO analysts, the non-ideological technocrats who crunch the numbers to estimate the fiscal impact of legislation. But their work is often more art than science, and although the forecasts that accompany legislation are always filled with uncertainty, this one contains more than most.

For example, the legislation contains subsidies for those who would not be able to afford health coverage on their own — but the cost of those subsidies could vary a lot depending on how much other elements of the legislation change the price of health insurance, such as through provisions requiring minimum coverage levels.

The New York Times goes even further, pointing out that there was no way the CBO report was going to show numbers that did not work out in favor of Obamacare:

Congressional Democrats have spent more than a year working with the nonpartisan budget office on the health care legislation, and as they fine-tuned many of the bill’s various provisions in recent weeks, they consulted repeatedly with its number-crunchers and the bipartisan staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. In other words, the overall numbers were never going to miss the mark. Whenever the budget office judged that some element or elements of the bill would cause a problem meeting the cost and deficit-reduction targets, Democrats just adjusted the underlying legislation to make sure it would hit their goal.

In other words the bill precise language of the bill was written in a way to make the numbers look good, whether they actually do or not is another story all together.

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The White House Bribes Another Congressman

Bart Gordon and friend check out Bart's new digs.

And in other news, grass is, in fact green.

Via Instapundit:

Bart Gordon promised a job as NASA Administrator for Health Care vote?

Rand Simberg is not a Bart Gordon fan.

If true, this has at least two implications. First, the administration is willing to throw Charlie Bolden under the bus. Second, they’re also willing to throw the new plans for NASA under the bus for health care, because Gordon (who just happens to be the relevant committee chairman) has expressed skepticism about them.

There’s also a rumor that another retiring Tennessee Rep., John Tanner, has been promised a job as Ambassador to NATO. I wonder if Republicans in the Senate will interfere with appointments like this? I’d say so.

The Transterrestrial Musings post quotes from this Human Events Post.

Most interesting rumor from the Hill yesterday: Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) who announced his retirement from Congress has been promised the job of NASA administrator in exchange for his vote, and Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), another retiring Democrat, has been promised an appointment as U.S. Ambassador to NATO in exchange for his vote.

Glenn is reporting that Gordon has announced he is now a 'Yes' vote on the bill.

But shhhh! It's a secret par for the course. So much so, that no one is even attempting to hide it.

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Inevitable End To Constitutional Abortion

The Hill has the story:

In a 222-203 vote, Democrats beat back a GOP resolution offered by Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Parker Griffith (Ala.) that would have forced lawmakers to vote on the Senate healthcare bill separately from the series of fixes they hope to make to that legislation.

All Republican lawmakers who voted opposed the measure, which had the effect of ending the GOP's effort to force a vote. They were joined by 28 Democrats, who broke with party members on the vote.

Two hundred and twenty-two Democrats supported the measure, though — enough to proceed. Three members of either party did not vote.

Michelle Malkin has the blow by blow:

You’ll recall that House Republicans unveiled a resolution two days ago that would force a vote on the Slaughter Solution and call out the Deem-and-Pass-ocrats.

The vote on that resolution had been anticipated at around 12:30-1pm Eastern this afternoon. The time came and went.

...

Final vote 222-203 with six not voting. Remember in November.

Michelle also has a roll call of the votes.

Sounds to me as though it's time to flood congressional offices with another mail in item. Perhaps, we should send them copies of the constitution since they seem to be unfamiliar with it? Here is a website where you can order copies of the US Constitution for $1.00 or less plus shipping and handling, depending upon copies ordered. We've shut down the phone board, now it's time to clog the Congressional mail room. Make them know we are serious!

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Reconciliation Bill Details

She has reason for that face shattering smile...

Politico has published details of the House Reconciliation Bill. Below are some details from the bill. The full text is available over at Politico.

The 153-page bill makes a number of changes to the Senate bill. The highlights:

--Increases the tax credits for middle-income families who buy insurance.

--Reduces the penalty for not buying insurance from $750 to $695. But the bill also requires some people to pay a share of their income as a penalty and that number was raised from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.

--It closes the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage by 2011 and gives seniors who fall into the gap this year a $250 rebate.

--It eliminates the Cornhusker Kickback and covers 100 percent of the increased Medicaid costs of all states until 2016 and decreases each year thereafter.

--Requires that doctors that care for Medicaid patients be reimbursed at the full rate.

--Spends $250 million to fight waste, fraud and abuse.

--Delays and blunts the tax on high-end insurance plans in keeping with the deal Democrats struck with the labor unions. However, it does lower the index at which plans will be taxed, making it likely that more plans will be affected over time.

--Imposes a Medicare tax on unearned income for families making more than $250,000.

--Includes student loan reform.

'Health Care Reform' is not dead. As a matter of fact, several news sources are reporting that it's got new life and is uncomfortably close to having enough support to get passed. If you have not already, CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES NOW!

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