Lies! The Bill Is NOT Deficit Neutral!

The CBO, when scoring the bill, must make certain assumptions. Because they are supposed to be politically neutral, these assumptions are limited to the words of the bill in front of them, even if its contents are false or delusional. Furthermore, the President and members of the Congress have misquoted the bill in hopes of proving financial viability. Here are some serious deficit issues with the the bill and it's reconciliation items, thankfully highlighted by heritage.org, which aren’t being broadcasted in the mainstream media:

• They elimination of the “doc fix” (which motivates doctors to accept Medicare patients) of $371 billion is being counted as savings. Problem is, government healthcare is screwed without the doc fix so it’s going to be included in another separate bill i.e. it can’t be considered a savings because is going to be spent sooner or later.

• Over half of the savings in the first 10 years is supposed to come from the CLASS Act where people pay for premiums up front for benefits received later. They’re counting the payments as savings but not subtracting the benefits paid out later.

• The bill contains billions of cuts to Medicare. However, these cuts are widely unpopular, especially considered the upcoming baby-boomers, and in reality will probably not be totally implemented. Just like the doc fix elimination—it’s wishful thinking, at least under this administration.

• In the first 10 years the bill includes years of revenue with only a few years of expenses to make the spending will look smaller. When the bill fully goes into effect, the spending is closer to 2.5 trillion, not the 1 trillion advertised by the White House.

• The reconciliation package includes a tax on high cost premiums that would be implemented in 2018, which based on general inflation will end up taxing more and more of the middle class. Essentially, this puts the tax collection responsibility on a future President and Congress who may not be willing to risk doing this to the middle class.

• The plan increases premium assistance subsidies paid to poor families, but indexes their value below the growth in the premiums so it looks less than it actually is after 2019. (FYI, this makes it more expensive for an employer to hire someone poor which will hurt lower class job opportunities. It also contains requirements that make it more expensive to higher more than 49 workers, which obviously creates disincentive not to expand and hire more people).