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A picture can be worth 2,000 pages

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
11/23/09 3:13 PM EST

Jeffrey Anderson of the Pacific Research Institute, who has been writing scintillating criticisms of the Democrats’ proposed health care bills, has prepared a chart showing the true 10-year cost of the bill currently before the Senate.

As the chart makes clear, the costs of this legislation do not kick in in any significant way until 2014, and so the real 10-year cost—as opposed to the 10-year cost that the Congressional Budget Office, pursuant to its legislative charter, estimated—is $1.8 trillion for the 10-year period for 2014 to 2023. Let me spell that out: $1,800,000,000,000.

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Reader Comments

All comments on this page are subject to our Terms of Use and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Examiner or its staff. Comment box is limited to 250 words.

Had Enough

Nov 23, 2009

Geez...these corrupt cronies really do think we're idiots!

Paul in Orlando FL

Nov 24, 2009

Had Enough,

Most people are idiots! How do you think these losers got elected? All the Gov. has to do & say is "you'll get this or that for free" and they voten them in.

Until we stand up to them all and push them out, our nation will colapse real soon! It doesn't take an Einstein to figure it out.

terrygee

Nov 24, 2009

I can proudly say"I didn,t vote for the little community organizer".

Dean Striker

Nov 24, 2009

So we get lulled for 4 years, the it hits the fan.
Much as I detest government force, must say that the CBO is doing an amazing job projecting costs on a bewildering bill.

Robin

Nov 24, 2009

I didn't vote for him either; and it had nothing to do with racism; I disliked his white half equally as much as his black half. But now, after a year of this distruction, dislike the morons that voted for him even more.

Joe

Nov 24, 2009

Of course- at least 1/2 of the country is still full of idiots. Mainly around the edges of the country. I have no idea how these idiots continue to support this guy, his congress, and his plans.

Joe

Nov 24, 2009

This little experiment in democracy and freedom is becoming unworkable. In the next few decades, as America's wealth declines and we continue to divide into ever more bitter factions, what becomes of us?

Wealth can paper over many differences. We're killing the wealth-making machine. The lines of division will get sharper, angrier (if that's possible). This will not end well. It can't end well.

mikeywes

Nov 25, 2009

This analysis is limited in scope and truth. If you consider the true overall costs of a lack...and I stress...as lack of a comprehensive and all encompassing health care plan..relative to the society as a whole, then the cost becomes fractional. Yes the cost is direct and can be encapsulated by the viewer but when you look at the whole picture the cost becomes much less than the cost to society as a whole in terms of efficiency and lack of competition in the health industry.

The only negative to all of this is the fact that the enormous amount of money that is siphoned off of the middle class is redistributed back to the middle class instead of into the pockets of the shareholders of the health industry.

Koggy

Nov 25, 2009

Obama: "I'm not a real president, but I play one on TV"

People get the government they deserve.

DagnerMouse

Nov 25, 2009

@mikeywes - Got any facts to back that assertion up? Any at all? Does the cost really become fractional? Any case studies? Where's the process and data set(s) used? I'd like to use *science* and independently validate and verify your conclusions. What measure(s) and definitions are you operating under which give you an accurate read on the "cost to society"? Which type or types of societies? What does "cost" mean in this context? How about "efficiency"? And how does "lack of competition in the health industry" factor into any of this, given that governmental entry into the marketplace is guaranteed to reduce competition (based on evaluating every time and place in history where it's ever been recorded that government's done such a thing)?

Oscar

Nov 25, 2009

This chart would be better if it had income shown also. Make income green and spending red in the same bar for the same year. That would clearly show we're paying for nothing in the first four years and then paying far more than we're taking in in later years. That puts the lie to the whole revenue neutral healthcare bill.

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A picture can be worth 2,000 pages

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
11/23/09 3:13 PM EST