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TMFDeej (99.47)

CBO: New Healthcare iniative to cost $1 Trillion

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June 16, 2009 – Comments (1)

I realize that as some who has access to a relatively good healthcare plan it's easy for me to say this, but the Administration's new plan to expand coverage seems awfully expensive to me.  At a time when the United States is running a massive budget deficit, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the newly proposed plan would end up costing the government an additional $1 trillion over 10 years.  And this estimate doesn't even include the possible expansion of Medicade to create a public insurance plan to compete with the private plans that are out there.

The healthcare system in the United States needs work.  When we spend nearly 20% of GDP on healthcare clearly there's a problem, but it's a tough problem to fix.  It would be tough to cut doctor's compensation.  I sure as heck wouldn't want to go through ten years of school that costs thousands and thousands of dollars to become a doctor just to watch my pay squeezed. 

Still, a trillion dollars is a lot of money for a country that has none to spend.  Where is all of this money going to come from?  It is either going to come from higher taxes on many people, including those who make less than $250,000 per year, which will act as a drag upon the economy OR the government will just borrow it, which will add to an already massive debt and possibly increase inflation down the road.  I see healthcare as yet another issue that very well could act as a drag on U.S. growth going forward.

There's got to be a better way to do this.  If I was in charge, I would start by making healthcare coverage free for all children and let the adults take care of themselves.  It's ironic that we have millions of uninsured children in the United States who obviously didn't do anything to get themselves into that situation yet all of the old people who made years and years of decisions on how to take care of themselves when they retire get free healthcare.  That's not right.

Improving access to health insurance: $1 trillion

Deej

1 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On June 16, 2009 at 8:46 AM, dickseacup (68.29) wrote:

A major problem I have with these proposals (outside of the constitutionality and funding issues) is that they address only health insurance costs, not health care costs. What good is it to get a deal on insurance if the cost of the care continues to outpace inflation and/or wage growth? The solution being proposed does not address the problem being discussed. Calling it a health care intitiative contributes to the deception and confusion. What is being discussed is a health insurance initiative. The vast majority seem to be falling for the bait and switch. We need to educate those around us so they understand that they are being sold a bill of goods.

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