After weeks of speculation Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) could finally exhale yesterday after he and the Senate Finance Committee got a thumbs-up from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on their health care plan. The CBOs cost estimate had been the biggest headache for Baucuss team which had hoped to put together a compromise that would move the process along. The CBO managed to put the bounce back in Baucuss step after it announced that the Committees idea would cost less than $900 billion over the next ten years without adding to the nations monster $1.4 trillion deficit.
If the news sounds too good to be true thats because it is.
What the American people may not realize is that
the CBOs score is only a partial estimate because no one has seen an actual bill. The Committee and the Congressional Budget Office are working entirely from a concept.
Even the CBO acknowledges that most of this is an educated guess. Its report warned of significant changes to the estimate when the language is finally released.
Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R) urged voters not to be fooled by the CBOs report which the Wall Street Journal blames on new math.
What we know at this point is that their idea cuts Medicare raises taxes and increases insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans. We need to see the actual bill... and know its exact wording before we begin a lengthy debate about whether its the right direction for our country said Alexander.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) dismissed the news altogether.
This Finance Committee proposal will never see the Senate floor he said since the real bill will be written by Democratic leaders in a closed-to-the-public conference room somewhere in the Capitol McConnell said.
Hes pointing out as FRC has that what comes out of the Senate Finance Committee is not nearly as important as the final product which will be merged with the radical version from the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
The real bill will be another 1000-page trillion dollar experiment... that vastly expands the role of the federal government in the personal health care decisions of every American Sen. McConnell said.
If the fine print of the Baucus plan actually existed Americans might be surprised to see how the Committee plans to pay for its reform.
The
Washington Times blog uncovered a new mommy tax that would help Uncle Sam cover costs.
Sen. Baucus has recommended that the government hike taxes on Class II medical devices--which includes basic necessities like breast pumps pacemakers ventilators wheelchairs needles and much more.
Wanda Moebius a spokeswoman for the
Advanced Medical Technology Association just shook her head.
Health care reform is supposed to make it more affordable not raising costs... on the end user said Moebius.
