NavyDave Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 HHS Secretary Sebelius admits to double-counting in Obamacare budget By Amanda Carey - The Daily Caller http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/04/hhs-secretary-sebelius-admits-to-double-counting-in-obamacare-budget/ Amanda Carey is a reporter for The Daily Caller. She previously worked for Reason magazine. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks at a health care round table discussion, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011, in Seattle. During a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) admitted to double-counting in the Obamacare budget. In her first appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee since the health-care law passed, Kathleen Sebelius responded to a line of questioning by Republican Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois about whether $500 billion in Medicare cuts were used to sustain the program or pay for the law. “There is an issue here on the budget because your own actuary has said you can’t double-count,” said Shimkus. “You can’t count — they’re attacking Medicare on the CR when their bill, your law, cut $500 billion from Medicare.” He continued: “Then you’re also using the same $500 billion to what? Say your funding health care. Your own actuary says you can’t do both. […] What’s the $500 billion in cuts for? Preserving Medicare or funding the health-care law? Sebelius’ reply? “Both.” The Obama administration and HHS have been criticized previously for double-counting. In a report last summer, HHS claimed a provision in the health-care law would extend the Medicare trust fund by 12 years. The Congressional Budget Office released a memo that said HHS’s math was more than a little off. “[…] They cannot be set aside to pay for future Medicare spending and, at the same time, pay for current spending on other parts of the legislation or on other programs … To describe the full amount of HI trust fund savings as both improving the government’s ability to pay future Medicare benefits and financing new spending outside of Medicare would essentially double-count a large share of those savings,” said the CBO memo. “I was shocked to hear the secretary admit that $500 billion is double-counted in the health-care law,” said Shimkus after Thursday’s hearing. “We knew the health-care law’s actual cost was much greater than originally told to the public. And now, the truth is slowly coming out in administration reports and testimony.” Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania , the chairman of the subcommittee added, “The same dollar can’t be used twice. This is the largest of the many budget gimmicks Democrats used to claim Obamacare would reduce the deficit.” UPDATE: When contacted by The Daily Caller, Richard Sorian, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs had this to say: “The scoring of the Affordable Care Act is entirely consistent with how legislation has been scored for the 30 years, under Presidents of both parties, and Congresses of both parties. Savings in programs like Medicare and Social Security are scored as improving the solvency of those programs and reducing the deficit.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LD0506 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 This'd be hilarious if it wasn't ultimately coming out of our asses.............but don't get all partisan about it, both sides have done it for generations. It is arguably the single worst way that politicians lie to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonniey Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Old news, believe all but the most extreme holdouts now admit that Obamacare is financially irresponsible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 How do you think Clinton created his "surplus"? FY YearEnding National Debt Deficit FY1993 09/30/1993 $4.411488 trillion FY1994 09/30/1994 $4.692749 trillion $281.26 billion FY1995 09/29/1995 $4.973982 trillion $281.23 billion FY1996 09/30/1996 $5.224810 trillion $250.83 billion FY1997 09/30/1997 $5.413146 trillion $188.34 billion FY1998 09/30/1998 $5.526193 trillion $113.05 billion FY1999 09/30/1999 $5.656270 trillion $130.08 billion FY2000 09/29/2000 $5.674178 trillion $17.91 billion FY2001 09/28/2001 $5.807463 trillion $133.29 billion FY, End Date, Claimed Surplus, Public Debt, Intra-govHoldings, Total National Debt FY1997, 09/30/1997, $0.0B, $3.789667T, $1.623478T, $5.413146T FY1998, 09/30/1998, $69.2B, $3.733864T, $1.792328T, $5.526193T FY1999, 09/30/1999, $122.7B, $3.636104T, $2.020166T, $5.656270T FY2000, 09/29/2000, $230.0B, $3.405303T, $2.268874T, $5.674178T FY2001, 09/28/2001, $0.0B, $3.339310T, $2.468153T, $5.807463T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyDave Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 I used to get po'ed when Democrats and Republicans would lie about a surplus when Average Joe didn't have to be an accountant to know that wasn't the case. And yeah both sides are guilty of this which is why I was upset with some of the spending by Team Elephant too. ---------- Post added March-8th-2011 at 01:44 PM ---------- But in this day and age now is the time to end this practice of cooking the books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramdizzle Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 I used to think the CBO was legit, then i realized its just abused by both parties. does this really surprise everyone? you can't add more people to a system and not have your costs go up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Yeah, I wanted health reform for ethical reason, but I had no delusions that it would come at a fiscal and tax cost. I wish that politicians could be honest with us about that. If something is important enough we should be willing to pay for it. Honestly, if I was told the war on terror was essential to our safety and we needed to mobilize to take out Al Qaeda I would have supported that even if it meant a tax hike. I feel the same about UHC. I think the potential good of UHC is worth the societal debt. By trying to hide it we wind up with programs that are less efficient, effective and sometimes destructive. It would be nice if the government treated us like grown ups so that we wouldn't always have to think of them as criminals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLongshot Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Yeah, I wanted health reform for ethical reason, but I had no delusions that it would come at a fiscal and tax cost. I wish that politicians could be honest with us about that. If something is important enough we should be willing to pay for it. Honestly, if I was told the war on terror was essential to our safety and we needed to mobilize to take out Al Qaeda I would have supported that even if it meant a tax hike. I feel the same about UHC. I think the potential good of UHC is worth the societal debt. By trying to hide it we wind up with programs that are less efficient, effective and sometimes destructive.It would be nice if the government treated us like grown ups so that we wouldn't always have to think of them as criminals. Except that politicians know that a tax hike and/or cutting of services is likely a death sentence to their career. You can talk all you want about politicians treating us like grown ups when voters actually behave that way at the voting booth. Unfortunately, your average voter is a sheeple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Except that politicians know that a tax hike and/or cutting of services is likely a death sentence to their career.You can talk all you want about politicians treating us like grown ups when voters actually behave that way at the voting booth. Unfortunately, your average voter is a sheeple. Well, can't argue that. I would like the politicians to treat us as grown ups and us to start acting like them. Yeah, yeah, I know, but pigs fly in my world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thiebear Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 This was pointed out rather quickly and was shot down as lies. I'm glad its come out as its the first step to fixing how we finance this thing. And we will finance this thing: I woudl prefer it to be spelled out. 12% tax increase used for nothing esle for those oer 40k a year would be a good start. or a Vat just for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.