Roy Blunt: “I think that is what we are all hearing. Whether you are for this bill or not, my guess is that you are hearing that if…”

“I think that is what we are all hearing. Whether you are for this bill or not, my guess is that you are hearing that if you are asking that question. Another of the President's promises was that an average family, if this health care plan went into effect, would pay $2,500 less, as the doctor just said, per year. In fact, since he became President, insurance premiums have risen by $2,213 a year--not a $2,500 cut but a $2,213 increase, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The survey says that in 2008, for employer-provided insurance, the average family premium was $12,860. Last year it was $15,073. These are incredible increases for families, coupled with the bad energy policies and other policies that put families into a condition they would hope not to be in and we hope for them not to be in. So you have increased costs to families, increased costs to the system. That is the other thing the President said. Another broken promise was that this health care bill would control costs. Recently, according to the Medicare Actuary--the person who calculates these costs--the estimate was that national health spending would go up at least $311 billion over 10 years under this plan. Now, that is not cost control; that is $311 billion, almost one-third of $1 trillion in increases. Payment reductions to hospitals--the Senator from Wyoming mentioned this board that will make these decisions.…”