One of the big claims that the administration has made on this push is that the bill is deficit neutral, or even better: it will "bend the cost curve" down. Critics like Republican Paul Ryan (Wis) have done a good job dismantling that argument. The reality is that we cannot afford this new entitlement, especially at a time when we're faced with the insolvency of our two existing entitlements.
The Wall St Journal revisited the issue yesterday with The Cost Control Illusion, a rebuttal of administration propaganda being sown in a last-ditch effort to counter the charge of fiscal irresponsibility. It concludes with this zinger:
ObamaCare's real cost-control plan boils down to this: First subsidize coverage so much that costs explode, raise taxes as much as possible to pay for it, and when that isn't enough hand power to an unelected committee to limit treatment and control prices by government order. This is what Democrats are voting for.I concur.
