Medicare actuary: Democrats' health care claims "false, more so than true..."

In testimony offered today Medicare Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee that

Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.

The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.

To quote BJ Honeycutt, "you could have knocked me over with a sledge-hammer."

Foster says analysis by his office shows that the health care law will raise the nation's health care tab modestly because newly insured people will be getting medical services they would have otherwise gone without.

Gosh, there's a shock, huh? There's going to add people, who are going to get more care, and it's going to cost more. Who'd'a thunk it? I mean, other than anyone who actually, you know, thought about it for 20 seconds.

None of this is surprising in the least. It was easily forseeable. And forseen. And shouted out about by many of us. As I said a year ago,

This is a delusional bill that allows the people who support it to climb into bed at night secure in their virtue, because they "care" about "the less fortunate," and ignore the fact that it's going to drive up costs, drive up premiums, put people out of work, put companies out of business, stop innovation and bring the country closer to the brink of bankruptcy.

And the President, and Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, stood up and lied to the American people over, and over, and over again. The Democrats lied about it during the repeal debate last week, the President lied about it again last night.


Of course, it would have been nice to get this testimony before passing that monstrosity...