And if they've managed to shave a couple hundred billion off of that, the simple fact is that none of that was paid for by the GOP! That's still fiscally irresponsible.
There is no "paid for". That's the point. To "pay for" a government program you tax people, which sucks the life blood out of the economy.
I opposed the legislation, and pointed out only that its design, as it turned out, was better than any social program I can think of, in part because private enterprise, rather than government, runs it.
The point of the donut hole is twofold -- it save money, but it also gives the patient "skin in the game".
Changes to the Medicare Part D program that would establish a new prescription drug rebate program for some people who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare, while expanding drug coverage to beneficiaries that are currently subject to a gap in coverage (often referred to as the Part D “doughnut hole”), saving $30 billion over the 2010-2019 period.
Yeah, only CBO could come up with a statement like this. They're going to provide rebates to patients, and on top of it pay a couple thousand more per year per beneficiary, yet save money. You're a businessman. You know that isn't a factual projection (which is likely the reason it is absent detail).
The reality is, of course, that when you spend more you don't save more. You can't have it both ways. This bill destroys the fiscal integrity of the program.
I would make two other points. We're only 4 years into Part D at this time and under-variance every year has basically grown every year and there is every reason to anticipate it will continue to do so if left alone. Simply put, the longer the program exists, the less money it costs, and the figure you cited above doesn't account for that at all.
Secondly, customer satisfaction with the program is very, very high.
This is complicated stuff; we're not just talking about your run-of-the-mill accounting transactions. You don't just shitcan the country's health care system and start over. And pretty much every pro who, like me, deals with it on a daily basis will tell you that. |
