On how much ObamaCare would cost vs. how much it would “save”

Bill Jacobson, Jeffrey Anderson at The Weekly Standard, and Michelle Malkin all have must-reads posted this morning on how Democrats have used the CBO’s crediblity in order to destroy it, all in a smoke and mirrors effort to fool everyone on the cost vs. “savings” aspect of ObamaCare.

As Kevin Glass explained yesterday, the CBO went with what it had to work with, which wasn’t much at all, and put qualifiers on a lot of what they were projecting. So, in essence, the much-heralded-by-the left CBO report was indeed a joke -and a slap in the face to every American who has the right to know just how much this is going to cost us if it passes. As far as the “savings” go? Please. Ed Morrissey pegs it right:

The problem is simple from the perspective of Washington and the Democrats, too. They need to pass health-care reform but make it look like it saves money. The only way to do that is to force states into expanding Medicaid in order to absorb more of the uninsured. The nifty part for Democrats in Washington is that Medicaid costs are mainly borne by the states.

[TN Gov. Phil] Bredesen’s right about the expansion of Medicaid under current conditions — it’s part of the entitlement catastrophe already, and this will hasten its arrival. We’re about to take a program whose growth already outstrips inflation and our economic growth and vastly expand it through federal mandates on the states.

Does this actually save us money? Of course not. It’s a shell game. Our state taxes will have to increase while Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama blather on about cost “savings” in ObamaCare. Meanwhile, states already running in the red will find themselves desperate for cash infusions, just as Bredesen describes. Where will that come? Given its track record on Porkulus, Obama will almost certainly push for more “stimulus” block grants for states in order to cover those shortfalls caused by the new federal mandates, which means the federal government will pay for this in most cases, probably for the next several years. It just won’t get included in the accounting for ObamaCare, allowing Democrats to claim that they have somehow reduced spending on health care through their reform.

Grrrr.

I’ll be on Twitter off and on today, tweeting about the latest goings-on on the ObamaCare front in the House. You can follow my tweets here and you can also follow what others are tweeting about ObamaCare – and the all-important Whip count – by searching the #HCR hashtag.

Lastly, make sure you check out Ed Whelan’s “It’s Now or Never” post at NRO that contains important House member contact info. Melt those phones!