Here’s a recap of how Republican ramrodded the medicare Part D expansion six years ago:
Flashback: ‘The Night The Clocks & Scoreboard Stood Still’ | Fired Up! Missouri. (h/t Ezra Klein)
Note that it was, and still is, completely unfunded and added 100% to the deficit. Furthermore its ten year costs are about a $1 trillion vs roughly $900 billion for current reform package. The health reform bills now before Congress actually reduce the deficit by $100 billion. Explain to me again which party is the party of fiscal sanity and responsibility?
If you hear anyone complaining about the process, show them that link and ask them to justify those tactics. If you hear any bitching about how this effects 16% of the economy, point them to this bit from Ezra Klein:
…this idea that the health-care bill affects “16% of GDP” is inane. That 16% of GDP captures people in private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and assorted other arrangements purchasing medical care. This bill will not stop them from purchasing medical care nor will it change the way they purchase medical care nor is it likely to change how much medical care they purchase.
To put this even more clearly, in 2008, the country spent $2.3 trillion on health care. In 2016 — so, after implementation — this bill will spend about $150 billion helping people buy health care. Assume that national spending that year will be about $3 trillion, then the health bill is accounting for about 5 percent of our spending that year. The idea that this bill, which is going to cost fairly little in the scheme of things and do virtually nothing to people who are already insured, is somehow transforming the provision of 16 percent of GDP is misleading at best.
