The House Health Bill: Rolling The Dice On The Big Bang Approach to Policy

Dennis Smith / October 30, 2009

Very soon, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on legislation ( H.R. 3962). That 1990 page bill, if enacted, will have an unprecedented impact on our economy, the federal budget, and the lives of all Americans. You can read that bill right here.

Here is a crucial question: Do members of Congress have any idea how this massive legislation will really affect us? Does anyone in the Speaker’s Office or in the Congressional leadership really know how moving the various parts of health care legislation will interact with one another and impact our care, our spending, our pocketbooks?

Straight talk and honesty are at a premium. Taxpayers can be sure of the honesty of one top level public official: The Chief Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He does not know the answers to these questions, and he told us that he doesn’t.

The Stakes. Consider that national health care spending will represent 17.9 percent of our entire economy next year. By 2019, under current law, CMS forecasts we will spend $4.67 trillion. (more…)