January 18th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today urged House Democrats “to join with a majority of Americans who want ObamaCare repealed in its entirety.”
“The outcome of the elections in November was clear. The American people don’t want Washington bureaucrats rationing health care based on scarce public funding, making choices that are best left to doctors and patients,” Wilson said.
A recent poll by Rasmussen Reports shows that 55 percent of voters want ObamaCare repealed, with only 40 percent opposed. Wilson said the House has a “mandate to proceed with repeal.”
“The government cannot afford to provide health care for everyone,” Wilson added, explaining, “with a $1.3 trillion annual budget deficit already, the cost of subsidizing coverage for 32 million more people — atop the 60 million people already enrolled in Medicaid, and another 46 million Medicare recipients — will be insurmountable. That’s 138 million people, nearly half the population, receiving taxpayer-financed health care by the government’s own estimates.”
“The average annual cost per individual in Medicaid is currently $4,950, while for Medicare it is $10,670. Even if the average cost of ObamaCare’s 32 million new recipients was only $3,500 per individual, it would still cost $112 billion extra annually, or more than a trillion dollars every 10 years,” Wilson explained.
An Americans for Limited Government analysis of coverage provisions estimates that the bill will likely cost even more than that.
Wilson explained, “Medicaid enrollment is a key question. With the individual mandate requiring everyone to carry health insurance of some sort, enrollment will most likely be higher than the government is estimating. If the individual mandate results in near-universal participation in Medicaid for those eligible up to 133 percent of the poverty level, and for the insurance subsidies up to 400 percent of the poverty level, the costs of ObamaCare will double and then triple upon full implementation.”
“Put simply, the government estimates 32 million people will participate in a mandatory program that more than 90 million will be eligible for. The analysis shows that if everyone eligible for ObamaCare care receives it, the cost will be well more than $2 trillion every 10 years upon full implementation,” Wilson noted. “We’re going broke already.”
“Who thinks the federal budget can afford another $200 billion annual entitlement atop the $800 billion annually we’re already spending on health care?” Wilson asked.
“When all is said and done, government-subsidized health care will cost more than $11 trillion over the next 10 years through 2020, and likely more than $20 trillion the decade after that. And that’s if ObamaCare is repealed. If it isn’t, heaven help us,” Wilson warned.
Wilson asked House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in March to do so again, “and for those who voted for it, it is time to change course and honor the will of the people who are demanding that Washington change the way it does business. The American people voted for the end of government takeovers of industry like health care.”
Attachments:
“Repealing ObamaCare a Good Start to Entitlement Reform,” Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government, January 5th, 2011.
“ObamaCare Repeal Could Save $2.6 Trillion,” Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government, January 10th, 2011.
Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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