Obamacare

As a measure of the government’s ability to finance and manage the programs it enacts, the following facts about Social Security and Medicare are revealing and prophetic. The nation’s capital stock would have to be $106.4 trillion larger today to generate enough income to pay all of the Social Security and Medicare
benefits that have been promised, over and above future payroll taxes. But according to the Federal Reserve, the nation’s total private net worth is only $51.5 trillion. An 81% increase in income taxes would be needed to cover this problem.
Now a new trillion dollar health care program is being rushed through Congress without adequate study. The 1000 page House version, on p. 16, would prohibit any new purchases of private insurance and any changes from one carrier to another. This provision sounds the deathknell for private plans. Such plans cannot survive without new members as the old ones fade away.

Sections 242, 1702 and 1714 would allow illegal aliens to participate at taxpayer expense. Isn't that wonderful! We can't even afford to pay for our own health care costs but that does not deter the Neolibs from adding more beneficiaries, like they did in social security. Ask Congress to eliminate these provisions, reduce the scope of the program, and s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. Everyone who applies for any new program should be required provide foolproof evidence that they are in this country legally. We could use E-verify for this purpose if Congress and the Administration would get off the time and require its use across the board in both public and private applications.
As in the earlier Social Security and Medicare estimates, neither the revenue nor the cost estimates are credible. Likewise, the ephemeral cost savings are certain instead to turn into yet another increase in the national debt. The CBO has said that the program proposed will actually increase the cost of health care. Now that statement is credible. How can you add 30 million uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions and expect the cost to go down. Never happen, GI!
Isn't it time we figured out how to pay for the programs already on the books before we indulge in a rush to enact another underfunded entitlement program? If Obama wants to tax the rich, why not begin by removing the cap on taxable earning for social security purposes while freeze the maximum benefit at the present level as adjusted for inflation? Why not take a more modest approach to health care reform and as doctors, insurance companies and drug companies to voluntarily reduce costs by some prescribed amount or percentage and give assurances that costs will not be allowed to increase at a rate greater than the overall inflation rate for the next ten years. Many already have pro bono programs for those who cannot afford their medications and Wal-Mart has introduced prescriptions for as little as $4. Maybe we need more pro bono volunteers to help the uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions but with the requirement that they have to demonstrate what they are doing to improve their own diets, exercise routine, and general health.
Already mortgaged to the hilt, America’s future is headed toward another underfunded program we cannot afford. Good cost estimates get overruled by political appointees if they don’t support their favorite programs. I know. I was a government cost analyst.