RSSChief Medicare Actuary Richard Foster Told the House Budget Committee Obamacare Would not Reduce Costs or Let People Keep Their Current Healthcare … Broken Obama Promises
Game, Set and Match against Obamacare …
So much for the promises that President Barack Obama and Democrats made regarding Obamacare, it turns out they were untruths. Barack Obama may want to put Obamacare in the rear view mirror, but the fact of the matter is it will be a key issue in the 2012 elections.
Chief CMS Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee that two of the central promises of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled. Medicare’s independent economic expert told the Congress that Obamacare ”probably” won’t hold costs down, and it “won’t” let everybody keep their current health insurance if they wanted to. Remember when Nancy Pelosi said that “we have to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in it? I guess she was 100%. And the hits keep on coming from the Obama landmark legislation that was rammed down the throats of Americans against their will.
The landmark legislation probably won’t hold costs down, and it won’t let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.
Foster’s assessment came a day after Obama in his State of the Union message told lawmakers that he’s open to improvements in the law, but unwilling to rehash the health care debate of the past two years. Republicans want to repeal the landmark legislation that provides coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured, but lack the votes.
Foster was asked by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., for a simple true or false response on two of the main assertions made by supporters of the law: that it will bring down unsustainable medical costs and will let people keep their current health insurance if they like it.
On the costs issue, “I would say false, more so than true,” Foster responded.
As for people getting to keep their coverage, “not true in all cases.”
After hearing such comments, think that a majority of Americans are not going to want to repeal Obamacare? Richard Foster is hardly a partisan, he is the independent Medicare actuary who is just merely presenting the facts. Remember when Barack Obama said, there were three principles of Obamacare … reduce health care costs, individuals keep whatever doctor and health care plan they have, and all Americans must have quality and affordable health care. However, it would appear that two of the three tenants of Obamacare are fallacious.
No wonder President Barack Obama said during his SOTU speech that he did not want to revisit Obamacare and only make changes to the government take over of health care, if he deems the change appropriate. No wonder Obama does not want to go back and “re-fighting the battles of the last two years,” he would actually have to explain his broken promises to the American people.
So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses …
So instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward.
However, Richard Foster’s comments did not just end with his slamming of Obama’s principles of Obamacare, but then came came Foster’s assault on the double-counting utilized in the CBO scoring.
REP. JOHN CAMPBELL(R- Calif.): “Is it legitimate to say… that you can add a dozen years to the solvency of Medicare or that you can reduce the deficit, but it is not correct to say both simultaneously?”
FOSTER: “Both will happen as a result of the same one set of savings, under Medicare. But it takes two sets of money to make it happen. It happens directly for the budget deficit, from the Medicare savings, and then when we need the money to extend the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, we have a promissory note – it’s an IOU, not a worthless IOU, but it is an IOU – and Treasury has to pay that money back. But they have to get it from somewhere. That’s the missing link.”
Obama being open to “ideas about how to improve” Obamacare, is that as sincere as the president saying there would be transparency, but instead had back room deals to pass the government take over of health care? The Democrats and Obama are probably already creating their talking points against the independent actuary. Being against Obama care, he might even be called a racist. However, didn’t the media already come out and say that Obamacare will not reduce costs? we also remember that the Democrats were silent as to discussing Obamacare during the 2010 midterm elections, the reason being because the keys of Obamacare were a lie.
Finally, Richard Foster stunned the House Budget Committee by saying that he was more confident in Paul Ryan’s ‘Road Map’ cost controls than Obama’s health law. OUCH! It is rather evident why most right minded thinking people want Obamacare repealed. The legislation has been a lie since day one.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat from Maryland, went on the attack against committee chairman Paul Ryan’s “Road Map” plan, which is a long-term proposal to make entitlement spending solvent.
Van Hollen pressed Foster on whether Ryan’s plan would work, prompting Foster to point out that one of the biggest problems in health care now is that most new technology that is developed increases costs rather than decreasing it.
Posted January 26, 2011 by Scared Monkeys 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Government, Healthcare, Obamacare, Obamanation, Presidential Election | 13 comments |
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13 Responses to “Chief Medicare Actuary Richard Foster Told the House Budget Committee Obamacare Would not Reduce Costs or Let People Keep Their Current Healthcare … Broken Obama Promises”
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Keep digging, all that comes out of Barry’s and his Democrat operatives mouths is nothing but lies.
it is a forced takeover of our medical system. it will kill millions. old people will be denied certain treatments. i have read where private practice will refuse obama care and you will be required to pay cash up front then try to get your money back from the government. good luck with that !!!
the last time i was hospitalized, i was told that if i paid cash, the bill would have been less than half. the same guy also told me ot was perfectly legal for them to rape my insurance for as much as they could get out of them.
this is where your problem started and this is not
even being looked at by the democrats.
go to the root of the problem first. of course this would not be criminal enough for the democrats.
If proof can be found that Obama is not a US citizen and he has been using the wrong name anything he has signed as President will be voided. He will go to trial, imprisoned and then deported. I can’t believe he allowed seal all of his documents.
#2,
“this is where your problem started and this is not even being looked at by the Democrats.”
Well, then it’s a good thing the Republicans, being such tireless public servants, are each and every day calling for hearings to look into these abuses by health care providers, as you describe, which are now going on. It’s also too bad their efforts on this back during the Bush era were stymied once they lost control of Congress, and they have been helpless to get anything done since then.
*** part 1 *** (possible posting problems?)
– As for people getting to keep their coverage, “not true in all cases.”
The full answer, which provides a great deal of context for this answer included the following information:
see part 2 ***
_____________
SM: How could anyone (OBAMA) make a promise he knew was a lie and he could not keep. This was the most obvious lie.
R
*** part 2 *** (possible posting problems?)
“As for people getting to keep their health insurance plan, Foster’s office is projecting that more than 7 million Medicare recipients in private Medicare Advantage plans will eventually have to find other coverage, cutting enrollment in the plans by about half.”
see part 3 ***
__________________
SM: You have no idea how insurance works do you? For all of your supposed knowledge, you are really a mental midgit.
Do you not understand that a person can never say that an individual could keep their insurance and doctor? IT WAS A LIE FROM DAY ONE!!!
You do understand that if an employor changes from one insurance to another and to a different network of dr’s that people may not be able to keep their same doctors, right? The same is true with employers opt out and take the govt plan that their employees will be thrown on Medicaid rolls and no dr in their right mind accepts that.
Sorry, but Obama lied on cost and ability to keep dr’s and insurance. The employee does not control the insurance, the employer does.
Any one who honestly thinks that you would add 30 million people to a healthcare plan, increase the # of things you would have to cover, forbid exemtions and have slacker kids eligible to be covered to the age of 26 and not think that would increase the cost of health care has never taken an economics class, worked in the healthcare industry, or ever had a clue.
*** part 3 ***
In my opinion, leaving this specific information out when quoting Foster does a great disservice to the reader.
____________
SM: Cut your crap Steve or you will be banned. Personally I am tired of your troll-like crap. And that is really all you are is a TROLL, you admitted so in a previous post by saying you like to annoy posters. No one is leaving anything out. There is a link you IDIOT to the original article that is your responsibility to read. Ever heard of the fair usage act?
Make one more comment as to how this site should run and you will be banned permantly so that you can go make to your liberal sites and read. Do not test your fate.
R
All I was trying to do was add additional contextual information to Foster’s testimony that this article was highlighting. I had no desire to address anymore of a topic than that.
If referencing more of the testimony is tr0ll-like, then so be-it. I don’t understand how such a simple comment of this nature leads to the feedback provided.
I’m not commenting on how the site should be run, just trying to exist within its rules and make relevant comments on interesting topics, including my opinion on posted content, just like others do.
Steve’s postings lack lustre. Try as I might to go back and see if indeed, I missed the humor, I found that I had not.
It is amusing though, to envision him with his thesaurus. If he believes we are not intelligent enough to catch his drift, maybe it can be related more to his rambling, incoherent drivel.
He could write speeches for Obama. Now THAT’s funny.
#9, “Humor”? – are you lost or confused?
If I didn’t know your kind and gentle nature, I might have thought “rambling, incoherent drivel” had a personal nature to it. How silly that would have been.
Hmnnnn…let’s see……Ask ANY Massachusetts Resident when they made State Wide Health Care a Mandatory requirement in our State (only thing I can point to on Mitt Romney’s record with his involvement as a Failure, Sorry)
….so ask us in Mass what we immediately saw happening. Did our health care costs increase? Yes, quite a bit actually. Did our coverage change? You betcha’. Gee, I loved how my Blue Cross ER Co-Pay went from $75.00 per visit to $175.00. That’s just for starters.
Steve—since you are such a hardcore fact type of guy who loves to pick things apart—spend a few hours doing some research on how the Health Insurance debacle in the State of Mass has worked out, ok? Get back to us and let us know what you found. It won’t be encouraging and will give you a good look at what the rest of America has coming their way unless the plan is repealed.
Thanks
#11,
Sorry, I don’t see why I should care about Mass law.
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