Morning Bell: Obamacare Is An Economy Killer

Conn Carroll / July 17, 2009

Yesterday, the independent scorekeeper for Congressional spending proposals, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), dropped a bombshell on Obamacare. The core of President Obama’s case for his health care plan has been his claim that it will “bend the curve” on rising health costs, thereby eventually lowering our nation’s exploding deficits. In a Senate Budget Committee hearing yesterday, chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) asked CBO director Douglas Elmendorf point blank: “I’m going to really put you on the spot. From what you have seen from the products of the committees that have reported, do you see a successful effort being mounted to bend the long-term cost curve?”

Elmendorf responded: “No, Mr. Chairman. On the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.”

The independent verdict on Obamacare is in: Instead of saving the federal government from fiscal catastrophe, the health reform measures being drafted by congressional Democrats would worsen an already-bleak budget outlook, increasing deficit projections and driving the nation more deeply into debt. This runaway spending, coupled with the Democrats plans to raise taxes, will kill our struggling economy and leave us with double digit unemployment for years to come. (more…)