Baucuscare Questions
With Democrats waving the oft-cited CBO report on Baucuscare as ‘proof’ that Democrats are fiscally responsible, I’ll strenuously object. It’s nothing of the sort. In fact, it’s proof that Democrats refuse to say no to spending restraint if there’s a tax that can be raised instead.
Serious flaws still exist in Baucuscare, not the least of which is the gigantic unfunded mandate that would get dumped into the states’ laps with the massive expansion of Medicaid. I cited a number of Democratic governors who opposed the Medicaid expansion because it represented an unfunded mandate. There aren’t many state-level politicians who would welcome the obligation of paying for the Medicaid expansion without federal assistance.
If the Medicaid expansion goes through as currently written, it will be a huge new expansion of entitlement spending in decades. Here’s the only question that needs to be asked on whether that would help curb health care inflation:
Has there ever been an entitlement program that curbs inflation?
The answer is no because entitlements aren’t concerned about inflation. They’re only concerned with maintaining their budgets for the next year. That isn’t what we need right now, especially considering the inflationary problems we’re experiencing with health care.
Another question that must be asked is whether Baucuscare taxes medical products will have an adverse effect on health care costs. Again, the answer is a resounding yes. It certainly will have an adverse effect on health car pricing because the cost of those products that would experience a tax increase would pass that expense along to the consumer.
How would these increased prices on medical products make health care affordable?
Here’s a question that hasn’t been asked yet:
If President Obama and the Democrats don’t support a single-payer, government-run health care system, why does each of the Democrats’ health care bills eliminate or nearly eliminate Medicare Advantage? If Democrats only want to provide competition to the evil insurance companies, shouldn’t they fight to preserve Medicare Advantage?
CBO scoring is a useful tool to a point but getting a ‘deficit neutral’ rating shouldn’t be the only criteria that legislation is rated by. Far more important is whether the policies in the bill improve people’s lives and whether they can be sustained.
The tax increases are needed to sustain the continued growth in health care spending. The Democrats’ legislation doesn’t curb spending even by a tiny fraction. That’s why it should be rejected outright. If the Democrats can’t get medical inflation under control, then it’s only a matter of time before they’re complaining about properly funding their latest entitlement or before they’re back asking to raise taxes.
That sounds suspiciously like starting from square one to me. That’s no bargain, especially considering all that we will have invested in health care reform.
In short, deficit neutrality is just a minor criteria in assessing whether legislation sets the right policies. In my opinion, it’d be better if we let the private sector deal with this issue as much as possible, then use the government to provide the safety net.
Technorati Tags: Deficits, Deficit Neutrality, CBO, Baucuscare, Entitlements, Inflation, Medicaid, Unfunded Mandates, Medicare Advantage, Taxes, Excise Tax, Tax Increases, Max Bucus, Democrats
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog