Thursday, March 18, 2010

The CBO Report on Health Care Reform

It may be correct as far as it goes, but it is not the full truth.

Here is the letter I will fax to to as many undecideds and Blue Dog Dems as I can get through to today:

Dear _________

The CBO report is in---but it’s not the whole story.


Do not be fooled by figures that include 10 years of revenue against 6 years of spending. Gimmick-free accounting shows a deficit increase of $460 billion the first 10 years and $1.4 trillion in the second ten years.


Do not be fooled by cost projections for such a large entitlement expansion. History proves they have NEVER been right---usually off by a factor of 10 or more.


1966 Medicare 25 year cost projection: $12 billion


Actual cost: $107 billion


1987 Medicaid 5 year cost projection: $1 billion


Actual cost: $17 billion


1988 Medicare home care benefit cost projection: $4 billion


Actual cost: 10 billion


Do not be fooled by the report that counts on cuts to Medicare which have NEVER occurred. Or worse---that quality of care will not suffer if the cuts ever do go through.


Do not believe the blatant lie “If you like your plan you can keep it.” Medicare destroyed the private health insurance industry for seniors, and this will destroy private health insurance for the rest of us.


But the greatest cost of all is how attempts to pass this bill are undermining of the rule of law and the very mechanisms of our Constitutional republic. This bill is a direct assault on the freedom and independence of all citizens, in clear violation of the fundamental purpose of government: the protection of individual rights.


No man can morally be made the means to another’s end.


I know you know all of this.


I just want you to know that the rest of us know it too.


VOTE NO.

2 comments:

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

Can I use your wording--at least in part? I will be faxing this evening.
I had e-mailed and called my own, but found that I had to use a false zip code even to get through to Dems in other states.

HaynesBE said...

Please use whatever you like. Many Congressmen do not accept emails from out of their district---which is why I have chosen to fax my letter. Not everybody has reasonable access to a fax though. Do what you can!

I've been using this guys list of undecideds b/c he seems to have trimmed it down to the truly hard to predict. http://news.firedoglake.com/

Good luck. And thanks!