Obama botches health care estimate – was $900 billion, now $1.75 trillion

Whoops. It’s important to note Obamacare has not even fully taken effect yet and stuff really starts kicking in one to two years from now. It really is true, you have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it and how much it will cost.

In his Sept. 2009 remarks to a joint session of Congress on health care, President Obama said the following after detailing all the things he would change.

Now, add it all up, and the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years — less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration.  (Applause.)  Now, most of these costs will be paid for with money already being spent — but spent badly — in the existing health care system.  The plan will not add to our deficit.  The middle class will realize greater security, not higher taxes.  And if we are able to slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of 1 percent each year — one-tenth of 1 percent — it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.

I can almost remember laughing out loud when I heard that … yeah, he was going to completely solve the health care problem for $90 billion a year. We’re not even one year along, and the Congressional Budget Office has revised their estimate. It’s now up to $175 billion a year, or $1.75 trillion over the next decade. This is clearly a doubling of the price tag.

Promises. Expire. Check out the CBO estimates if you’d like.

AP from at Hot Air..

Remember, they gamed this thing so that it wouldn’t take effect until 2014, which means that the cost of the first four years of implementation was essentially zero. That $940 billion figure really represented just six years of cost, not 10, but it was politically invaluable to Democratic messaging in letting them tout the bill as costing less than a trillion dollars. Now that we’re nearing 2014 and the 10-year window of cost projections has slid forward, you can see what this leviathan boondoggle really costs: $1.76 trillion, soon to top $2 trillion when the window slides forward another year in 2013 and the new projection reaches into 2023.

You realize don’t you, the game plan of the administration and Democrats is to make this so outrageously expensive when it comes to cost and regulations, employers will no longer be able to afford to provide coverage and nobody will want to be in the business. That’s what they want. Socialized medicine.

Posted in ,

Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

27 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on March 13, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    And when the price goes up, and you have no where else to go, the price will stay up.? The hallmark of a monopoly.
    ?
    I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: you can have healthcare good, inexpensive or universal.? Pick any two.
    ?
    It is time to stop electing “historic” presidents and begin hiring competent ones.



    • Dimsdale on March 13, 2012 at 9:58 pm

      Hiring, electing: same difference!



  2. antiviceisavich on March 14, 2012 at 7:05 am

    Steve compares the cost of the affordable healthcare for Americans act to the cost of War! Nice. Why is more important, killing enemies or improving health of USA citizens.?

    And why do so many unhappy people find delight in insulting our President by using his firstname only? And “ObamaCare” Really, this does not exist, show respect and call the act by its correct name or is ther no happiness in that???



    • Dimsdale on March 14, 2012 at 8:26 am

      Um, I believe that the inset quote was from ?bama, not Steve.
      ?
      Were you here during the Bush years?? And where was the respect to the American people, the opposing party and healthcare in general, when ?bama and the Dems were ramrodding ?bamacare through Congress with bribes, threats and closed door meetings?? And don’t forget the respect the American people got when Pelosi said “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it”.
      ?
      Yeah, respect.? It comes right after truth, transparency and keeping your promises, things this administration knows nothing about.



    • JBS on March 15, 2012 at 2:50 pm

      Welcome: Please get your quotes correct. Also, if asking rhetorical questions, please provide answers, solutions and links as appropriate. Otherwise, it’s just rude lecturing, condescension and not being a very effective polemic.
      You wouldn’t happen to be a liberal, would you? We need a good one; the last one fell victim to name calling and libel. Punctuation counts!



    • Steve M on March 15, 2012 at 3:35 pm

      Again you prove you have a serious reading comprehension issue. Do that again, and you’re history.



    • winnie on March 15, 2012 at 10:10 pm

      Yes, antiviceisavich/crystal, let’s not call it “Obamacare”…Let’s call it what the democrats did:? The Affordable Care Act.
      Because 1.75 trillion is code for “affordable”.?



  3. Marilyn on March 14, 2012 at 7:40 am

    Just to be correct,? Steve didn’t compare the cost of health care to the cost of wars.? The President did.? No one is insulting the President by using his first name or calling the affordable health care act, Obamacare any more then calling Gov. Romney, Mitt or his plan for Ma. Romneycare.?



  4. kipitwic on March 14, 2012 at 7:40 am

    The healthcare bill is another shell game.? Obama said if you were happy with you insurance plan and dr.s you would be able to keep them.? Well, we find out now this is not the truth.? Quite frankly, I am disgusted with this whole situation.? This country was built on people taking the responsibility to care for themselves and their families.? It is not the governments place to give us health insurance, retirement benefits, etc.? One needs to learn to plan their lives and work hard putting away for rainy days.? Nothing the government gets involved in ever works.?



  5. Plainvillian on March 14, 2012 at 8:34 am

    Obama lied?? Again?? Will the legacy media even mention this?



    • Lynn on March 17, 2012 at 7:38 am

      NO, that question is too easy. Sort of like, Is the Pope Catholic?



  6. SeeingRed on March 14, 2012 at 10:48 am

    …sure hope there’s a series of ads, paid for by some PAC or other, highlighting the skyrocketing costs?of everthing under OhZer0 (energy, clothing, food and yes, healthcare).? And then his own words about ‘necessarily-skyrocketing’ or other idealistic liberal bilge.? Point a few of these barbs at Dem ram-rodding pols up for re-election.

    End of advertisement.?



  7. Truthseeker on March 14, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    I have not read?the Act?and don’t believe I’d understand it if I did.? There are only two things I like about it.? No denial of coverage to people with pre-exiting conditions, and extended time for children to stay covered by their parents’ insurance.? Other than the excessive price tag, which is bad enough, please educate me on other negatives contained in this Act.



    • SoundOffSister on March 14, 2012 at 6:42 pm

      Here are 3 that come to mind:
      1) whether you have an individual policy or a policy through your employer, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that your premiums will rise by 10 – 13% more under Obamacare than without it,
      2) if you have insurance through your employer, a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business showed that 57% of small businesses were either very likely, or somewhat likely to cancel their group insurance.? A survey of all businesses by McKinsey showed that 30 – 50% of all employers would drop their group insurance, and,
      3) the United States Preventative Services Task Force, appointed by the President, will decide what medical?treatment is ?covered and what?is not.? If your medical condition does not respond to that treatment, too bad.? Unlike a decision by your insurance company, there is no right of appeal from the Task Force decision.
      But, as to preexisting condition coverage, most states already had insurance plans for that.?…



    • SoundOffSister on March 14, 2012 at 6:45 pm

      Although touted by the President as critical, almost 2 years after its implementation, fewer than 10,000 people have enrolled nationwide.



    • Truthseeker on March 14, 2012 at 8:20 pm

      Good stuff Sister.? Thanks for that.



    • Dimsdale on March 15, 2012 at 10:46 am

      Well, bad stuff, actually!? 😉



    • Lynn on March 17, 2012 at 7:44 am

      SOS, Is much too modest. Anyone who wants to know the story about Obamacare can look in the Archives and read every post about Obamacare from the beginning. Most are by SOS. LOL, I think Truthseeker knows as much as SOS, Steve, and Dimsdale does.



  8. RoBrDona on March 14, 2012 at 2:21 pm

    There is no such thing as “affordable healthcare” under this plan.? It is just another income redistribution package of higher taxes and more government control (now including who lives and who dies, quality of care and revocation of health rights), which always equals inflated prices.? The only people that can stomach this are wealthy, elitist Communists like the O – who can not only afford to destroy America, they revel in our pain.? ?



  9. Jeff S on March 15, 2012 at 8:42 am

    And you wonder why this country is 16 Trilion dollars in debt.? It is fraudulent bills like this that when submitted to CBO for scoring they have to use numbers provided by the submitters, but when implemented it’s a different story.? I don’t know why anyone accepts CBO scoring anyway, when have they ever been close.



  10. Moe on March 15, 2012 at 11:41 am

    To quote Henry Louis Mencken: Democracy is where the Jackals are elected by Jackasses.



  11. JBS on March 15, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    I like the Menchen quote! He many observations that are pithy and quite accurate.
    I seem to remember when I was a kid, a few years ago, that there was a medical exemption on the income taxes. Anyone?
    The current proposed legislation is very effectively designed to drive all but wealthy Americans into a government run health care system, i.e., ?bamaCare.
    The cost is definitely going to be much more if this Bill is implemented. Hopefully, the SCOTUS will rule against the proposal. The current $1.75 trillion is really divided by six years. Ha! Now it is approaching $300 billion! Per year? Next year, next week, tomorrow, it will go up again. And, it’s not even implemented. Yet, it is still generating costs.
    If ?bama can compare health care to a war, then this has to be a black hole that he has opened on the economy.
    ?



  12. sammy22 on March 15, 2012 at 10:29 pm

    Good thing that, though not much of the Obamacare has taken effect, premium costs and health care costs keep going up with no end in sight. I suppose the rise is due to everybody positioning themselves to game the system the best way they know how.



    • Dimsdale on March 16, 2012 at 1:57 pm

      Or cash in before they are forced out…..



  13. socialenemy on March 16, 2012 at 10:46 am

    I understand that this is “Obamacare” and all that and the Dems really did do everything in their power to get this passed us without any even knowing what the hell it was, but it’s time we stop dividing this country by political boundries. Yes Dem jammed this sucker through, and Yes the Republicans pretty much let them. I remember listening to 1080 every single day, morning, noon and night when congress was voting on this bill and despite the please of Jim and Rush and the scarce few sound bites of Republicans opposing the bill no one actually took it upon themselves to educate this country in what was going on. Yeah it’s great Rush told his couple a million listeners, unfortunately the great majority of this country doesn’t listen to him and as far as I can tell there was little to no effort made to inform those people of what the hell was going on. The Republicans are as much to blame for this bill as the Dems and will probably benefit from it just as much. The days of finger pointing is over people, it’s time we voted every single last one of these SOBs the hell out of office because NONE of them care about you, me or anyone outside of DC. And yeah, I’m a registered Republican in Bristol, I consider myself a part of…



    • Truthseeker on March 16, 2012 at 7:27 pm

      Yeah, and for that reason I’ll cast a vote for Ron Paul in next week’s primary. ?Why? ?Because he is the only candidate who will stick to his convictions if elected. ?The Congress (even if Republican controlled) will fight him tooth and nail and nothing will get done at the Federal level. ?And that is perhaps a good thing for the next 4 years.



    • Lynn on March 18, 2012 at 7:42 am

      Thank you Truthseeker for your vote for President Obama (sarc). Perhaps you think it is a good thing to have President Obama use his czars for more regulations that will not be passed by Congress, as according to the Constitution. Or perhaps, you would like President Obama to make an appointment to the Supreme Court from amongst his Progressive list of applicants. You are so wrong that nothing will get done at the Federal level. But oh why bother we didn’t need a Republic anyway (do I need to add sarc here?)



frontpg-health-care-01

The website's content and articles were migrated to a new framework in October 2023. You may see [shortcodes in brackets] that do not make any sense. Please ignore that stuff. We may fix it at some point, but we do not have the time now.

You'll also note comments migrated over may have misplaced question marks and missing spaces. All comments were migrated, but trackbacks may not show.

The site is not broken.