Health Care Repeal Won't Add to the Deficit

There's an excellent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning By Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Joseph Antos and James C. Capretta¹, on the argument still being made that Obamacare reduces the Federal Government's long term fiscal problems. Apparently, this material cannot be presented often enough...

A close examination of CBO's work and other evidence undercuts [the] budget-busting argument about repeal and leads to the exact opposite conclusion, which is that repeal is the logical first step toward restoring fiscal sanity.
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Next up is the CLASS Act (for the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act) providing a new long-term care insurance entitlement. CLASS hitched a ride on the ACA for one reason only: premiums are collected in the first ten years, but no benefits are provided. Voila, it creates the perception of $70 billion in deficit reduction. In fact, CLASS is a bailout waiting to happen, as it will attract mainly sick enrollees. Only in Washington could the creation of a reckless entitlement program be used as "offset" to grease the way for another entitlement.

Go ahead. Read it all. And don't ever buy the argument that an unlimited, open-ended Federal entitlement program is somehow the rock on which a solid fiscal house can be built...



¹ - Mr. Holtz-Eakin is president of the American Action Forum and a former director of CBO. Mr. Antos is Wilson Taylor Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former assistant director at CBO. Mr. Capretta is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former associate director at the Office of Management and Budget.