The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Liberal Concedes Health Care Bill Will Create New Entitlement "Impossible to Rescind"

Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

Liberal Concedes Health Care Bill Will Create New Entitlement "Impossible to Rescind"

By Philip Klein on 11.10.09 @ 10:05AM

Like most liberals, the John Cassidy supports the passage of health care legislation. But, unlike most liberals, he's honest about the costs and consequences of passing it. Via WSJ, I see this item Cassidy recently wrote. While the substance should not surprise anybody who is a regular reader of this blog, it is rather startling coming from the pages of the New Yorker.

"[W]e will be dealing with its consequences for decades to come, and I think it’s important to be clear about what the reform amounts to," Cassidy wrote. He goes on to confess that, "The future cost savings that the Administration and its congressional allies are promising to deliver are based on wishful thinking and sleight of hand. Over time, the reform, as proposed, would almost certainly add substantially to the budget deficit, thereby worsening the long-term fiscal crisis that the country faces."

After explaining many of the accounting tricks the Democrats have used to obtain a passing grade from the Congresssional Budget Office, which I have detailed on numerous occasions, Cassidy concludes:

So what does it all add up to? The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment to help provide health coverage for the vast majority of its citizens. I support this commitment, and I think the federal government’s spending priorities should be altered to make it happen. But let’s not pretend that it isn’t a big deal, or that it will be self-financing, or that it will work out exactly as planned. It won’t.

Many Democratic insiders know all this, or most of it. What is really unfolding, I suspect, is the scenario that many conservatives feared. The Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it (and many other Administrations before that) is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind. At some point in the future, the fiscal consequences of the reform will have to be dealt with in a more meaningful way, but by then the principle of (near) universal coverage will be well established. Even a twenty-first-century Ronald Reagan will have great difficult overturning it.

That takes me back to where I began. Both in terms of the political calculus of the Democratic Party, and in terms of making the United States a more equitable society, expanding health-care coverage now and worrying later about its long-term consequences is an eminently defensible strategy. Putting on my amateur historian’s cap, I might even claim that some subterfuge is historically necessary to get great reforms enacted. But as an economics reporter and commentator, I feel obliged to put on my green eyeshade and count the dollars.

If there is any smidgen of hope for small government conservatism at some future date, it hinges on whether or not we can stop this monstrous legislation.

View all comments (7) | Leave a comment

Jim Hlavac| 11.10.09 @ 10:34AM

How on earth could "reform" such as this, admittedly dumb by Cassidy, possibly be good? Are they so deluded that even after they say it is a lousy option built with lies and tricks it is still good? Yikes.

MarkJ| 11.10.09 @ 11:23AM

John Cassidy is all but assuming a future ObamaCare program would be "impossible to rescind."

Actually, these types of programs can be, and are, rescinded. What rescinds them are events called "revolutions." Sometimes these revolutions are peaceful....and sometimes they're not so peaceful.

Ruminate on that, John Cassidy.

Oldefarte| 11.10.09 @ 11:42AM

Of course it's an entitlement [ie WELFARE] and any moron should know that. There is essentially nothing at presetn wrong with America's healthcare system, other than it is too expensive. The reasons are because of lawyers and their attacks via frivilous suits against the medical profession [due to same having lawyers' favorite money pit---INSURANCE] ; and because the medical profession doesn't price their services upon a ultimate solution/contract basis [and instead on a fee-for-service basis which inflates doctors' personal incomes]. With lawsuit reform and medical pricing reform, the healthcare problems would be solved. The poor already receive healthcare since their needs are met through EMERGENCY MEDICAL ROOM PROCEDURES [and which are paid for by the rest of us]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alanstorm| 11.10.09 @ 12:08PM

Can someone explain to me how someone could see the problems and costs associated with this concept AND STILL SUPPORT IT?

He trots out the same old tired socialist arguments, that health care is a right (an assertion never proven, not an argument) and that all the cool countries are doing it, so we should too.

Looking at Cassidey's article, and comparing it with Krugman's articles, it becomes obvious that logic is not a required part of an economics education.

Stan Redmond| 11.10.09 @ 1:28PM

They support it because they're in the club. Even Nancy Pelosi admits it is so unpopular she may lose her position. Any of those house members kicked out are going to be working in and for any of the new agencies and industries (hello lobbyists, who better to lobby for the new groups than the jackasses that voted for and presumably know what's in the law) that pop up. They have a VERY lucrative job guarenteed for the rest of their lives.

Amor de Cosmos| 11.10.09 @ 2:10PM

If Obamacare passes you better get to know your elected representatives really well on a personal level. That way, you or your loved ones can get advanced to the head of the line.

Don't believe me? Ask a Canadian.

This is what Pelosi and Co fervently pray for: a class of people permanently indebted to them. In fact, they are counting on it.

Calgary Sports Injury Expert| 10.28.10 @ 10:42AM

This is a very important issue and here in Canada the health care system has improved thanks to good regulations. I think with new regulations US will have a better future for their people.