More Than 100 House Dems: Our Healthcare Bill Will Outlaw Private Coverage, Eliminate Up to Two Million Jobs, and Cover Abortion
More than 100 House Democrats — nearly half of the new majority — have signed on to a new single-payer healthcare bill that supporters describe as “battle ready.” If by “battle ready,” they mean, “extremely controversial, deeply politically risky, and totally bereft of any acknowledgement of the proposal’s eye-poppingly exorbitant costs,” they’re undoubtedly correct. Politico’s story on the legislation is full of extraordinary tidbits and quotes. Here are some of the most important facts we’ve learned:
(1) The bill “doesn’t include a price tag or specific proposals for financing the new system, which analysts estimate would cost tens of trillions of dollars over a decade.” The lead sponsor of the bill says her crew will release a list of “suggested funding mechanisms” at some point in the future. One of these mechanisms, we’re told, is “a tax on high earners.” If you’ve been following this debate, you’re well aware that targeted taxes on ‘the rich’ would be woefully insufficient in raising even a fraction of the expected cost. Enormous tax hikes on all Americans would be necessary. This math is not seriously disputed.
And given the comprehensiveness of the proposed ‘benefits’ in this bill (it goes even farther than Bernie Sanders’ Senate version), some experts are already estimating that its price tag (which, again, is missing entirely from the legislation) could be on the order of $40 trillion over its first ten years. This would require roughly doubling the entire federal budget, which already runs a significant annual deficit. It’s possible that they believe this plan to be “battle ready” because it hides the ball on cost, allowing proponents to mumble about hazy “investments” instead of confronting real numbers.
(2) Via NBC News, “The legislation’s most contentious provision would end private health insurance and replace it with a government system.” Yes, virtually all private coverage would be outlawed, forcing every single American into an innovation-crushing, government-run system. Approximately 177 million Americans currently receive private health insurance, either through their employers, or directly from insurers. The vast majority of these people are satisfied with their coverage, according to Gallup. All of these people would be uprooted from their existing plans and funneled into the federal bureaucracy. On the matter of ripping people away from their existing status quo, this proposal gets worse — both practically and politically:
2. It would sunset Medicare and Medicaid, which are both popular, while (ironically) maintaining the two worst govt health care systems in existence today: the Veterans Affairs health system and the Indian Health Services.
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) February 26, 2019
(3) Given the party’s grim march toward abortion extremism, it should come as little surprise that this single-payer regime would require taxpayer funding of abortion. One of the few bipartisan truces on this divisive issue at the federal level has been the Hyde Amendment, under which public dollars do not flow to abortions. This would upend that precedent, mandating (unpopular) public funding of abortion. (Read more from “More Than 100 House Dems: Our Healthcare Bill Will Outlaw Private Coverage, Eliminate up to Two Million Jobs, and Cover Abortion” HERE)
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