More Bad News from CBO About The Obama Health Bill

“It is going in the wrong direction” CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said, essentially, when you listen to his whole testimony which can be accessed on-line at CBO Hearing Webcast or read it at CBO Testimony.

Don’t do either unless you have some tranquilizers or a defibrillator nearby....this is some seriously disconcerting stuff this gentleman is putting out there about the future economic well-being of our nation. And he knows what he is talking about.

The following is from the newswire reports filed after the hearing: “From the beginning of the health care debate, Obama has insisted that any overhaul must "bend the curve" of rapidly rising costs that threaten to swamp the budgets of government, businesses and families. (meaning 'downward', my addition)

Asked by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., whether the evolving legislation would bend the cost curve, Elmendorf responded that, as things stand now, "the curve is being raised." (meaning 'upward', my addition)

'In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount,' he said. 'And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.'

Even if the legislation doesn't add to the federal deficit over the next years, Elmendorf said costs over the long run would keep rising at an unsustainable pace.”

Director Doug Elmendorf is an accomplished, well-trained and highly respected Ph.D economist with degrees from both Princeton and Harvard. He was hired in January, 2009 by the Democrat leadership in Congress to do the important job of telling Congress when they are spending too much money, which has not been difficult for either Dr. Elmendorf or his predecessor under Republican leaders during the entire Bush Administration. You and I could both tell them that.

This bill is a brazen attempt to further expand the dominion of the federal government over the American health care system and it will not arrest the soaring costs now inherent in the system. When you see and hear a respected analyst appointed by the leadership of Congress such as Director Elmendorf say that the Obama health care bill will step on the federal spending accelerator, not the brake as President Obama promised, you have got to take notice and be very concerned. He was one of their first appointees in the new Congress and could have been assumed to be sympathetic to the new Administration.

Very concerned. Concerned enough to email your congressional representatives and senators; the links are just waiting for you to do just that on the right side of this column.

Our nation can’t afford to load up another $3 trillion in unpaid bills on our children by the passage of this bill, which by all accounts, won’t even cover everyone with health care coverage anyway.