Cliff Stearns: “Last week, the chief actuary for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, issued a troubling report, but it…”

“Last week, the chief actuary for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, issued a troubling report, but it is not at all surprising to many of us who debated the health care bill. The report said that the Obamacare health care bill will increase national health expenditures by $311 billion. That is a deficit. During the debate, many of us said on the House floor that this bill will increase the deficit and expand Federal powers. I would like to take a few minutes to outline some of the problems with the bill by government officials pointing out these problems. First of all, it obviously increases the deficit. CBO projected the cost of the health care bill to be $940 billion and it would reduce the deficit by $138 billion. However, that has been proven to be wrong. There are budget gimmicks in place and it is unlikely that Congress will keep those gimmicks in place. For example, the bill assumes that a 21 percent cut to Medicare's physician reimbursement rate will stay in place. This won't happen. New taxes and mandates will create economic hardship. Businesses will be forced to buy health insurance for their employees or pay a tax for every employee. This will place businesses into a very difficult position, cutting workers, reducing wages, or preventing companies from growing larger if they wish to avoid these costly penalties.”