Senator Gregg: Updated CBO Estimate of House Bill Pulls Back the Curtain on Majority’s Intent to Grow Government by $3 Trillion

Below is a list of the cuts to Medicare contained within the abomination called Pelosi-Care:

• $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) which currently provides benefits to more than 11 million seniors.

o   The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts these cuts “could lead many plans to limit the benefits they offer, raise their premiums, or withdraw from the program.”

o   CBO also predicts 3 million seniors will lose the plan they currently have and the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) predicts these cuts will result in 1 in 5 seniors no longer having access to an MA plan;

• $143.6 billion in across-the-board cuts by instituting a new, permanent “productivity adjustment” to reimbursement rates for all hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), hospice, clinical laboratories, and durable medical equipment (DME);

• $56.7 billion in cuts to home health agencies by freezing payment rates in 2010, applying the productivity adjustment, and other reimbursement changes;

• $42.3 billion in cuts to the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) by imposing government price-controls for drugs.  As a result, CBO predicts seniors’ premiums will increase by at least 20%;

• $23.9 billion in additional cuts to SNFs by freezing their payment rates in 2010;

• $14.3 billion in provider reimbursement cuts by reallocating Medicare funding nationally;

• $10.3 billion in additional cuts to hospitals by slashing reimbursements designed to cover uncompensated care;

• $9.3 billion in yet further cuts to hospitals that have a high rate of readmitted patients;

• $8.2 billion in undisclosed cuts determined by the new, unelected “Center for Medicare Innovation;”

• $5.3 billion in cuts to inpatient rehabilitation facilities cuts by freezing payment rates in 2010;

• $3 billion in reimbursement cuts to providers who use imaging equipment (MRI, CT scans, etc);

• $1 billion cut to physician-owned hospitals, effectively legislating these hospitals out of existence.  In some communities, physician-owned hospitals are the only hospital in the community.

• $800 million in additional DME cuts (power wheelchairs); and

• Plus, $14.5 billion in additional miscellaneous cuts to the Medicare program.

The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) House Republican staff, which earlier this year created a chart mapping the bureaucratic complexity of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s original health care proposal (H.R. 3200), has combined similar analysis by the House Republican Conference with the earlier chart.  The analysis details new additions to the health care bureaucracy contained in the new version of the Speaker’s bill (H.R. 3962) that were not previously listed.  Let’s just say the Speaker’s vision for government-run health care hasn’t gotten any simpler.

“This is the blueprint for a taxpayer-funded mega-bureaucracy,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH).  “The new chart is an astonishing and unsettling glimpse of the future that awaits American health care, should H.R. 3962 be passed by the House and signed into law.”

The chart, completed at the direction of Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), the committee’s ranking House Republican Member, shows that the Pelosi plan has grown even more complex in the months since it was originally unveiled by congressional Democrats.  The new bill – expected to be brought to a vote in the House as early as Saturday – contains all of the bureaucracy of the original plan, plus a whole lot more, the chart illustrates.  The full chart can be seen here:

A bigger, readable version of the chart is here:

We blew a trillion on this?

The ugly face of Obammunsim — While you are looking at the charts, show me the turnaround. Unemployment now stands at 17.5% when you take the government’s crap factors out of the equation. Maybe this chart is enough to draw comparisons, the current recession is the dark blue line, digging a hole:

In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982. Setting new records, next stop, depression.

Then look at how the numbers have been fiddled for the last few quarters. See how the sag now ends up being right in line with the way it should have been. Looks just like the global warming hoaxers temperature graphs. Easy to spot the fudge. You can only hope things will change for so long, then you have to revert back to the truth.

Looks like that stimulus is really working doesn’t it.

Looks a lot like the way the ’saved jobs’ BS is pushed out to the ignorant people. You wonder why the stock market is going up? You checked what you get on savings accounts lately? That plus the 20% drop in dollar valuation, there is your answer.

The October unemployment rate has just been released and it has jumped to  double digits at 10.2%, nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the worst rate since 1983. Any higher unemployment rate would make this the worst recession since the Great Depression.The full BLS press release is here.

So how is the Associated Press reporting the growing unemployment numbers? “The economy is rebounding.” I kid you not …

The economy is rebounding from its deepest slump since the 1930s, but it probably won’t seem that way when the government releases its monthly employment report on Friday.Employers aren’t expected to start adding jobs for several more months. Many are skeptical about the strength and sustainability of the recovery,

The nation’s economy probably lost a net total of 175,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.9 percent, according to a survey of Wall Street economists by Thomson Reuters. The Labor Department report is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Most economists think the rate will eventually surpass 10 percent, a level last seen in June 1983.

The real unemployment number is available here and its now … 17.5% (table A-12, item U6). How’s that hopey changey thing working out for you?

Thomas Grillo of the Boston Herald writes about Jack Welch’s speech:

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, blasted the Obama administration and Congressman Barney Frank this morning telling a banking audience that the Democrats’ actions to restructure the entire economy are “insane.”“I hope that the New Jersey and Virginia governor’s race will put some realism into this administration,” Welch told an enthusiastic crowd at the Bank Administration Institute convention at Boston’s Convention and Exhibition Center. “I hope it will cause them to pause and not just jump into anything they encounter.”

Welch was referring to the races on Tuesday where Republicans bested Democrats, a sign some say that voters are unhappy with President Barack Obama’s handling of the country.

It’s a spoof of the song “If I Had A Million Dollars”, by the Barenaked Ladies alternative rock band.

Fox played a short clip of this spoof today on Megan’s show, and the leftards went nuts.

As they should, the only thing left is to intimidate and lie, becuase AGW science has gone bye bye. Hey even Al Gore is trying to convert from science to church doctrine.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times on October 25, Peter Nicholas framed the problem perfectly:

Now tack on a trio of state and local political races. With an off-year election fast approaching, Obama is stepping up his commitment to Democratic candidates in hopes that an infusion of campaign charisma might pump up turnout.

What the party is finding, though, is that the electricity of 2008 is tough to recapture.

Some Democratic candidates running for local office around the country call the phenomenon the “Obama hangover.” It is proving tougher to recruit volunteers and get people to vote.

Despite an all out effort in New Jersey and Virginia, with Obama in ads calling on voters to get “fired up once again” the collective yawn coming from his supporters must be a frightening silence drifting down the halls of the White House.

The real story is the independents walked out on the Oba-Mao, well they more likely ran, but they were gone, 2:1 in both states. Looks very much like the realignment of voters lasted one whole year.

Fool me once. Obammunism is dead.

Obammunism isn’t for everyone — Most didn’t buy the Pelosi line “we won”. The Hill reports:

Vulnerable House and Senate Democrats want their leaders to skip the party’s controversial legislative agenda for next year to help save their seats in Congress.

In the run-up to the 2010 midterm elections, they don’t want to be forced to vote on climate change, immigration reform and gays in the military, which they say should be set aside so Congress can focus on jobs and the economy.

“It’s hard; the most important issue in front of us is the economy right now, and that’s where most of us really want to stay focused, the economy and jobs, that’s what our constituency is concerned about,” said Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D), who is facing a tough race next year in Arkansas.

Rep. Bob Etheridge (D), a centrist contemplating a run for Senate in North Carolina, helped Democratic leaders in the summer by voting for climate change legislation on the House floor.

He now wants Democratic leaders to narrow their focus on jobs and the economy.

Going to take more than one rinse cycle to get the Obammunism off though.

Yeck! Can’t get this crap off me fast enough.

Perfectly describes people’s sentiments.

Anybody have any idea how this new Pelosi government rationed health care will cost less and deliver more?