Today in Washington, D.C. - May 12, 2010 - List Of Failed Health Care Promises Grows By The Day

The Senate reconvened  and resumed consideration of S. 3217, the Dodd financial regulation bill and then  began a series of votes on amendments to the bill from Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bob Corker (R-TN), and Kay bailey Hutchison (R-TX).

Yesterday, 56 Democrats killed an amendment from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) which would have ended government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in two years. The Senate instead approved a measure offered by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) to simply study such a move. Also yesterday the Senate voted 96-0 to approve an amendment from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to audit the Federal Reserve and identify the banks that received emergency loans during the financial crisis.

Yet again, multiple news reports and government studies are confirming the warnings Republicans gave for months about Democrats’ massive, unpopular health care spending bill. Politico reported yesterday, “Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections. The additional spending — if approved over the years by Congress — would bring the total estimated cost of the overhaul to over $1 trillion.” The AP notes, “The costs were not in earlier estimates by the budget office, although Republican lawmakers argued that they should have been.”

Recall that President Obama sold the bill in part on promises it would reduce the deficit: “It will reduce our deficit by more than $100 billion over the next decade, and more than $1 trillion in the decade after that.” And Democrats in Congress endlessly touted a CBO study finding that the bill would shave around $118 billion from the deficit over ten years. But if the bill will cost $115 billion more than projected, that will essentially wipe out any savings from the bill.

The new CBO report on costs comes on the heels of a study released by the Department of Health and Human Services that found that “[l]etting young adults stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 will nudge premiums nearly 1 percent higher for employer plans,” according to the AP. But Democrats had pledged their health care bill would bring down premiums for Americans.

Last week, Fortune magazine reviewed documents from companies requested by Congress and found that “many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government.” That’s despite President Obama’s constant assertions during the health care debate that if you like your insurance plan, you can keep your plan.

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier today, “The fact of the matter is, the list of failed promises is growing every day. . . . So when Speaker Pelosi said we’d have to pass this health care bill for people to find out what was in it, she knew what she was talking about. And what they’re finding out is that Republicans were right all along. For every promise that crumbles, another one of our warnings is vindicated. Day after day, Republicans said the health care bill would raise taxes, raise premiums, and cut Medicare for seniors. We said it would increase costs, because it didn’t take an actuary to figure that you don’t save money on health care by spending more on it.”

It’s getting easier by the day to figure out who told the truth during the health care debate. It’s unfortunate that so many Democrats decided to ignore what the American people knew would happen with the health care bill: it will raise deficits, raise premiums, and could even hurt the quality of care Americans get with their current health care plans. Americans wanted real health care reform to lower costs, but Democrats’ $2.6 billion spending spree was never the right solution. The health care law should be repealed and replaced.

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