Obamacare, Save Money? Not Likely.

Kathryn Nix / November 16, 2010

Newly-elected conservatives heading to Washington next year have a lot to do to curb the size of government and get federal deficits under control.  Requisite to achieving these goals is the full repeal of Obamacare.

According to Peter Orszag, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Obama, leaving the health law intact would create savings.  But this couldn’t be farther from reality.

Orszag claims that Obamacare will reduce the federal deficit and Medicare spending.  What isn’t mentioned is that, though it’s true that spending on Medicare will be reduced by $575 billion over the next decade, savings are used to offset spending on new programs.  So really, there are no savings at all.

Moreover, proponents of Obamacare expect the new law to reduce spending by cutting provider reimbursements and expanding bureaucracy through top-down delivery system changes aimed at increasing efficiency in the system.  In reality, the former will negatively affect seniors’ access to quality care, while the latter will be flat-out unsuccessful at reducing spending. (more…)