Healthcare cost visualization

Philip Klein over at the American Spectator analyzes the Baucus Healthcare Bill and finds (surprise!) that the Democrats are playing fast and loose in order to get a favorable estimate from the Congressional Budget Office:

Given that the CBO only puts a price tag on the first 10 years of a piece of legislation, Democrats realized that they could simply delay the enactment of the major spending provisions of the bill by four years, thus creating the illusion of a bill that costs $829 billion over 10 years. But in actuality, the bill is projected to cost just $14 billion in the first four years, and $70 billion through its fifth year. . . .

. . . The red shaded area to the left of the line represents all of the spending in the first half of the 10 year period the CBO evaluated, and everything to the right of the line represents spending in the second half of that 10 year period. About 98 percent of the spending comes in the last six years, and 92 percent comes in final five year period. Thus, the true 10-year cost of the Baucus bill is well above $1 trillion, and according to estimates cited by Republicans, it’s actually $1.8 trillion.

Time to fire up the phones and fax machines.  ..bruce w..

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Category: Creeping socialism, Healthcare Reform, Idiot Congresspersons, Obama Administration, Sea of deficits