The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Martin Feldstein Warns that Obamacare Could Run $2 Trillion

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The Spectacle Blog

Martin Feldstein Warns that Obamacare Could Run $2 Trillion

By Doug Bandow on 9.8.09 @ 3:17AM

So much for a reform that pays for itself. Economist Martin Feldstein takes a hard look at "the exploding path of fiscal deficits," which would be made far worse by Obamacare. He writes:

For starters, $1 trillion of extra debt-financed spending would cause the government to pay about $300 billion of extra interest in the next decade. Moreover, the CBO's method of estimating the cost of such a program doesn't recognize the incentives it creates for households and firms to change their behavior.

The House health-care bill gives a large subsidy to millions of families with incomes up to three times the poverty level (i.e., up to $66,000 now for a family of four) if they buy their insurance through one of the newly created "insurance exchanges," but not if they get their insurance from their employer. The CBO's cost estimate understates the number who would receive the subsidy because it ignores the incentive for many firms to drop employer-provided coverage. It also ignores the strong incentive that individuals would have to reduce reportable cash incomes to qualify for higher subsidy rates. The total cost of ObamaCare over the next decade likely would be closer to $2 trillion than to $1 trillion.

Workers had better have gotten a good rest yesterday. They are going to be laboring into their next life to pay off all the federal debt.

View all comments (6) | Leave a comment

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Dean| 9.8.09 @ 9:05AM

Obviously you Conservatives either purposely underestimate or forget about the administration's proven ability to reduce costs. Remember, the President asked his cabinet to reduce their total budgets by $100 million and they did. They will be able to do that 10,000 times and cover the $1 trillion costs for healthcare.

Insert Sarcasm Sign here.

Becky| 9.8.09 @ 9:24AM

What choice to keep your own insurance does someone have that didn't select it in the first place?

When you take a job with benefits, it is the person who hires you who decides where to purchase health care. A more correct statement from the president would be "If your employer, or you as an employer are happy with your plan, you can keep it." The average person who goes to work for someone else doesn't really have the sort of control the president imagines.

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WeiChung Wu| 9.9.09 @ 12:42PM

I disagree with Martin Feldstein. No doubt, Health-care will spend a lot of money. But, it is still more economic than private (business) health insurance. If US private (business) health system works efficiently, why medical cost is the highest in the world now?
Martin Feldstein is a professor in the university. He has a good job and full coverage of insurance How about middle family and poor people ? Some of my friends who with low payment just get imcomplete medical insurance. They pay a lot of money when they go to see a doctor. I agree with Obama, no family should go bankruptcy because of helath care cost.
Finally, I believe national halth-care insurance works. I am from Taiwan, every citizen in Taiwan has national(public) halth-care insurance cover. Health(medical) insurance company is public, but hospital are private . The system is cheap, full cover, and no waiting-ling as UK. US GDP is much higher than Taiwan, if Taiwan can do it, why US can't do.