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December 21, 2009

WSJ: Health Care Bill - Change Nobody Believes In

Calling it "a bill so reckless that it has to be rammed through on a partisan vote on Christmas eve," the WSJ reminds us that barring some extraordinary reversal, it now seems as if the Democrats have the 60 votes they need to jump off this cliff, with one-seventh of the economy in tow, just to stuff ObamaCare through the Senate to meet an arbitrary White House deadline and force "a new welfare and tax system" on the American people.

The WSJ points to disastrous results from the bill's passage: Health costs for individuals and businesses, despite the White House's core claim to the contrary (so utterly disingenuous that it's dubious the President really believes it himself), will significantly increase; Americans will face significantly steep declines in choice and quality of care; despite the Democrats' crowing that ObamaCare will cost "only" $871 billion over the next decade while fantastically reducing the deficit by $132 billion, according to CBO, yet some 98% of the total cost comes after 2014 - other deceptions include a new entitlement for long-term care that starts collecting premiums tomorrow but doesn't start paying benefits until late in the decade (the worst deception is not accounting for a formula that automatically slashes Medicare payments to doctors by 21.5% next year and deeper after that. Everyone knows the payment cuts won't happen but they remain in the bill to make the cost look lower); then there's the fact that those parts of the health-care industry that couldn't be bribed outright into supporting the president's plan, were politically intimidated due to the fact that the federal government will control 55% of total U.S. health spending under ObamaCare, according to the Administration's own Medicare actuaries.

As pointed out in the WSJ piece, 60 Democrats are creating a future of epic increases in spending, taxes and command-and-control regulation, in which bureaucracy trumps innovation and transfer payments are more important than private investment and individual decisions. In short, the Obama Democrats have chosen change nobody believes in--outside of themselves--and when it passes America will be paying for it for decades to come.

It is in fact, not only change nobody believes in but change the overwhelming majority of Americans most definitely don't want.

Take the time to read Change Nobody Believes In in its entirety.

Related video: Reason TV's reminder of mission creep in federal government

H/t - Ed Morrissey, who points out that federal government programs grow like weeds and expand like Mr. Creosote from Monty Python's Meaning of Life. Power corrupts. These programs provide all sorts of opportunities for favor-peddling, influence buying, and lobbyist interest. That's why we have to stop these programs before they get started -- because once they take root, they are all but impossible to kill.

Posted by Richard at December 21, 2009 11:02 AM

• WSJ: Health Care Bill - Change Nobody Believes In - Dec 21, 2009