The actual cost of health care reform

Illinois Family Institute’s most recent newsletter pointed out the difficulty with believing that health care reform will “only” cost taxpayers $940 billion over the next decade and that it will allegedly cut the national debt by $120 billion.

Why is it difficult to believe? Because of past unkept promises, IFI points out (all emphases in original):

• In 1965 the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that the hospital insurance program of medicare–the federal health care program for the elderly and disabled–would cost $9 billion by 1990. The actual cost was $67 billion.

• In 1967 the House Ways and Means Committee said the entire Medicare program would cost $12 billion in 1990. The actual cost was $98 billion.

• In 1987 Congress projected that Medicaid–the joint federal-state health care program for the poor–would make relief payments to hospitals of less than $1 billion in 1992. The actual cost was $17 billion.

• In 1988 the cost of Medicare’s home care benefit was projected in 1993 to be $4 billion. The actual cost was $10 billion.

IFI’s conclusion is that “anyone who thinks that the Health Care Reform Act will not have a negative impact upon the prosperity and tax burden of our children and grandchildren is woefully naive.”