I’m in Missouri, and I just saw a Kansas City Star story, “Brownback says health care law cost is far above official estimate.” Excerpt:
“Sam Brownback and other Republican U.S. senators across the country are telling voters that the new health care law will cost $2.6 trillion — a price that wildly inflates the official estimate.
Brownback, who is running for governor in Kansas, said the law required “$8,470 in new government spending per every Kansan. That money is going to come by more taxes, more debt, probably both.”
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and several other GOP senators have cited the same number — $8,470 per citizen — in their criticism of the law.
But critics note that number would put the total cost for the law at $2.6 trillion over 10 years, more than double what Congress’ own nonpartisan budget experts predict.
Also, it does not take into account the Congressional Budget Office’s projection that the law will pay for itself in the long run.”
Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt addressed the same theme – overestimates of the cost impact of the Affordable Care Act – in his talk to the Missouri Health Policy Summit today.
Comments
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Ken Leebow
October 29, 2010 at 2:25 pmI certainly have no clue what the health care plan will cost. However, as someone in the middle class, I see absolutely no benefit. In fact, I assume my premiums will escalate at a higher percentage than in years past.
Rather than depend on the health care system (candidly, the disease care system), I have made a decision to live a healthier lifestyle. It’s easy and it works. As a senior, I see my doc once a year for him to tell me that I’m healthy.
It really would be a welcome change if our politicians would discuss lifestyle changes as opposed to “healthcare” changes. Unfortunately, that’s not good for big Pharma and big food.
That’s enough soapboxing. Now, I’ll go back to my cynic’s corner.
Ken Leebow
http://www.HighSatiety.net
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like