Bruce Josten of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, our national affiliate, has been bird-dogging health care proposals in Congress. He sent the following information this morning which is staggering and should cause President Obama and Congress to pause, take their time, do the math and do a thorough cost-benefit analysis. Here is part of his message:
HSI Network, a non-partisan, independent health care research firm that has worked with research universities, the federal government and the private sector, released the estimated costs and impacts of the House Democrats’ tri-committee health care discussion drafts will result in $3.5 trillion of new federal spending.
Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) said, “This is a staggering figure, even in Washington a $3.5 trillion price tag is going to cause a lot of people to pause and ask just what is in this bill. There aren’t enough tax increases or cuts to doctors and hospitals to pay for that level of government spending. I think even many of my Democrat friends would agree that replacing high health care costs with outrageously high taxes is no solution.”
In addition to the high cost, HSI Network predicts that 64 million Americans would lose the current private health care coverage under the House Democrat’s bill, meaning the bill is incompatible with promises made repeatedly by President Obama that people who like their current insurance will be able to keep it.
Do the Math: This is a whole bunch of money even by Washington, D.C., standards.
- If you were to spend $1,000,000 ($1 million) a day, every day of the year, it would take 2,739 years to spend $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000). So 3.5 times 2,739 is 9,586.5 years. Considering this is 2009, that is more than four times the amount of time since AD began.
- If you were to lay $100 bills end to end totaling $1 trillion, you would go around the Earth at the equator 39 times. So 3.5 times is 136.5 times and that would be a whole bunch of frequent flier miles.
Congress and President Obama need to slow down, do the math and weigh the short and long-term benefits and consequences BEFORE TAKING ACTION. Don't rush.
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)
