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CBO scores the Senate Health Bill


Magox

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I was listening to CSPAN this afternoon. This bill is more of a mess than I could have imagined. Apparently reimbursements to doctors was left out, so it could be added later and will add close to another 200 billion.

They did two things to make this bill look deficit neutral, and we've been barking it about it for weeks, though I'm sure to some it just came across as being repetitive partisan hacks. The first is the "doc fix" that you are referring to above. The other is the student loan takeover in the reconciliation bill. One is directly related to health care and is left out because it would bust the CBO score. The other has nothing to do with health care but is added in because once the government takes over all student loans, which they will immediately do as soon as the reconciliation bill is passed, they use the interest earned to pay for health care.

 

And if you think this makes it more of a mess than you could have imagined, just watch the next two months as the details come out and everyone realizes that in order to actually DO the things required in the bill is going to cost yet another $75 - $100 Billion in unbudgeted funds, starting with the $10 billion needed to hire 16,000 IRS agents to track everyone down to ensure they have the proper coverage required by law.

 

It's an embarrassing mess and it's going to shove us down a financial path that will do more damage than most of us would have ever imagined when thinking Barack Obama was even remotely the kind of change we needed.

 

Next up...financial institutions. Then cap-n-trade.

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They did two things to make this bill look deficit neutral, and we've been barking it about it for weeks, though I'm sure to some it just came across as being repetitive partisan hacks. The first is the "doc fix" that you are referring to above. The other is the student loan takeover in the reconciliation bill. One is directly related to health care and is left out because it would bust the CBO score. The other has nothing to do with health care but is added in because once the government takes over all student loans, which they will immediately do as soon as the reconciliation bill is passed, they use the interest earned to pay for health care.

 

And if you think this makes it more of a mess than you could have imagined, just watch the next two months as the details come out and everyone realizes that in order to actually DO the things required in the bill is going to cost yet another $75 - $100 Billion in unbudgeted funds, starting with the $10 billion needed to hire 16,000 IRS agents to track everyone down to ensure they have the proper coverage required by law.

 

It's an embarrassing mess and it's going to shove us down a financial path that will do more damage than most of us would have ever imagined when thinking Barack Obama was even remotely the kind of change we needed.

 

Next up...financial institutions. Then cap-n-trade.

And so the see saw will go back to the republicans....and when they don't fix things, it goes back to the democrats. When will we ever learn......

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I love all the republicans bitching about increased costs when we don't have the money. But yet these same republicans seem to think we have plenty of money to fight to two wars in the middle east and and give away billions to other countries in support and aid.

 

How about stop attacking counties and getting into useless wars and stop foreign subsidies and we will have lots of cash for healthcare, education, paving the streets and putting criminals in jail.

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I love all the republicans bitching about increased costs when we don't have the money. But yet these same republicans seem to think we have plenty of money to fight to two wars in the middle east and and give away billions to other countries in support and aid.

 

How about stop attacking counties and getting into useless wars and stop foreign subsidies and we will have lots of cash for healthcare, education, paving the streets and putting criminals in jail.

No, we won't. That's what makes you an idiot. The only difference between Democrats and Republicans is who they pander to.

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I love all the republicans bitching about increased costs when we don't have the money. But yet these same republicans seem to think we have plenty of money to fight to two wars in the middle east and and give away billions to other countries in support and aid.

 

How about stop attacking counties and getting into useless wars and stop foreign subsidies and we will have lots of cash for healthcare, education, paving the streets and putting criminals in jail.

 

LEt me rephrase that last sentence for you in a way that makes more sense.

 

How about stop attacking counties and getting into useless wars and stop foreign subsidies and stop wasting money on healthcare, education programs that don't work, and putting drug-using criminals in jail...and the DoD and on and on.

 

When you're deep in debt, saving money from one place (a war) doesn't mean the money should be spent in others.

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I love all the republicans bitching about increased costs when we don't have the money. But yet these same republicans seem to think we have plenty of money to fight to two wars in the middle east and and give away billions to other countries in support and aid.

 

How about stop attacking counties and getting into useless wars and stop foreign subsidies and we will have lots of cash for healthcare, education, paving the streets and putting criminals in jail.

29 out of 50 Democratic Senators voted for Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002

 

And I suppose Obama didn't escalate the war further in Afghanistan.

 

Yup, it was all the GOP. :ph34r:

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And so the see saw will go back to the republicans....and when they don't fix things, it goes back to the democrats. When will we ever learn......

Fine. Both sides suck and we'll never learn. But the reality is, a lot of people were yelling that this bill was useless and embarrassing and ill-conceived, and that the funding was a scam...but there it went, into law.

 

I may just be overly optimistic, but the embarrassing way the current administration is steamrolling its way over the electorate is making more people wake up, which means when they get their asses handed to them in November, it's likely the GOP will be less likely to get away with the similar idiocy. At least until we're all lulled to sleep again.

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The good news is

 

Disclosures by Caterpillar and AK Steel Holding Corp. in the two days since the signing are the first sets of health-care charges that ultimately may shave as much as $14 billion from U.S. corporate profits, according to an estimate by benefits consultancy Towers Watson. Caterpillar Chief Financial Officer David Burritt and nine peers laid out objections in a Dec. 11 letter as Congress was drafting the bill, saying they would have to account for the tax change as soon as it became law.

 

“This could be a huge hit for bigger companies,” said Roland McDevitt, health-care research director in Arlington, Virginia, for New York-based Towers Watson. “This will be the kind of charge that will get the CFO looking and asking what are we doing here?”

 

Investors should expect hundreds of charge announcements in the next few weeks as the first quarter ends and companies release earnings, said Ken Sperling, leader of Hewitt Associates’ Global Health Care group in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

 

Deere & Co., the world’s largest maker of farm machinery, today said the new law will increase expenses by about $150 million after taxes in the fiscal year that runs through October.

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29 out of 50 Democratic Senators voted for Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002

 

And I suppose Obama didn't escalate the war further in Afghanistan.

 

Yup, it was all the GOP. :ph34r:

As usual, a good answer, Magox. Too many people want to find a singular target for their anger. Bush didn't go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, our government did. Obama didn't make this ill thought out bill into law- our government did. While that may not be a popular line of thought, its how things are. Our government is made up of both awful parties and we haven't done anything about that- with numerous opportunities.

 

Right now, our country is like a person near bankruptcy- so many bills, so much debt. Paralyzed and unwilling to give anything up. We still want it all.

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As usual, a good answer, Magox. Too many people want to find a singular target for their anger. Bush didn't go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, our government did. Obama didn't make this ill thought out bill into law- our government did. While that may not be a popular line of thought, its how things are. Our government is made up of both awful parties and we haven't done anything about that- with numerous opportunities.

 

Right now, our country is like a person near bankruptcy- so many bills, so much debt. Paralyzed and unwilling to give anything up. We still want it all.

 

No but Bush lied that Hussien had nuclear weapons to get the dems votes. Bush should be in jail, he has the blood of all those soldiers on his hands.

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No but Bush lied that Hussien had nuclear weapons to get the dems votes. Bush should be in jail, he has the blood of all those soldiers on his hands.

Should I or will somebody else take a shot at this?

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No but Bush lied that Hussien had nuclear weapons to get the dems votes. Bush should be in jail, he has the blood of all those soldiers on his hands.

 

 

So the intel that all of the congress had and half the world had from their own intell, is some how Bush's fault? Chef Jim was right, you are an idiot.

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