Wow! That's gotta hurt!

This week the congressional budget office released three reports that either directly contradicted statements from the Obama administration on health care, or essentially told him "good luck with that".

MSNBC (can't believe I am using them for a source) reported today that the CBO reports were a "Major Buzz Kill" for health care overhaul. Keep in mind a couple of things: this is the CBO, the government accountants, that produced these reports; two of the key points of the Obama plan is that it will save the government (taxpayers) money and that everyone (meaning the 40 some million they say are without insurance) would be able to have health care.

What does the CBO have to say about those goals:

The CBO estimated that if the bill becomes a law, it would cause “a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion” from 2010 to 2019. But according to the agency, the bill would still leave 37 million Americans uninsured by 2019. MSNBC

A $1 TRILLION INCREASE in the deficit! And there are still 37 million uninsured!?!?!?! Help me make sense of this. It gets better. The article goes on to say:

It was a reminder from CBO that if Obama and Congress intend to redesign health insurance in a way that doesn't add to the federal deficit, they can’t rely primarily on the private sector.

Instead, they will have to do it themselves by curbing the spending that the federal government can control, such as Medicare, which costs $500 billion a year and is growing at a rate of 7 percent annually.

So, according to the government accountants, the only real chance they have of providing health care without adding to deficits and increasing taxes is to cut spending in other areas. There is not a politician in Washington right now with any power that has the will or desire to cut spending.

They even go on to point out that some of the measures that would actually work to reduce overall health care spending would in reality cost the government tax revenue. Primarily through tax incentives for companies to cover more preventive care.

And that $2 trillion in savings proposed by the health care / insurance industry. According to the CBO, while it may be a good thing if they can do it, the reality is it will not save the government any money. Those are all unproven, theoretical savings for the private sector.

How do you create government managed health care reform without adding to the Federal deficit?

Obama’s hope is that an overhaul of health care would reduce federal spending on health care, while improving people’s health. The CBO is reminding Congress of the gap between that hope and actual accomplishment; a deficit-neutral bill may require a lot of revenue through tax increases. MSNBC

Like I keep saying, you have to raise taxes. Go back to the Anyn Rand quote: the government cannot give a benefit to one person with first taking something from someone else.