Some Perspective on $1.6 Trillion

Posted on 06/26/2009 at 2:18 pm by Bob Cesca

Via Ezra Klein, here’s economist Uwe Reinhardt on the cost of healthcare reform:

A price tag of $1.6 trillion seems immense if one contemplates the figure in the abstract. It is, however, only about 4 percent of the total cumulative health spending of $40 trillion, the amount government actuaries now project for the decade from 2010 to 2020. That is also less than the 6 to 7 percent that total national health spending has increased each year in the past decade.

Nevertheless, Max Baucus has decided to arbitrarily limit the price tag for the healthcare reform bill to $1 trillion over ten years. I can’t recall who wrote this recently, so forgive the lack of attribution: In 2002, did any member of Congress randomly set a spending limit for the invasion and occupation of Iraq?

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  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    No one batted an eye.And as Ed mentioned yesterday on his show, all these guys that insist that it be scored by the CBO before any decisions are made should be asked if they demanded the scoring of the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan and the War on Terror.That’s why this thing needs to be just hammered through. Roll right over the Republicans, the Democrats and anyone else that gets in the way. As long as we play nice with the opposition, the longer they will throw up obstacle after obstacle to slow this thing down or kill it altogether.

  • http://tarackian.deviantart.com J M Ashby

    Yeah I have been completely unable to wrap my head around how 1.6 trillion over 10 years is too much but 3 trillion in 5 years for war is just fine.

  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    Indeed, Ashby. And 3 trillion with no discernible return on the investment. We might as well have put it in a rocket and shot it at the moon for all we got for it.

  • El Mystico

    >>>We might as well have put it in a rocket and shot it at the moon for all we got for it.Cash Rocket? I like it. I like it a lot. Where can I get me one of those?

  • http://annette-justmylittlepieceoftheworld.blogspot.com/ Annette

    Two days ago when Tweety was on the Joke’s show and put him down, he made the comment which was pretty well lost that if the NeoCons wanted a war they went for it and never worried about paying for it, but now all of a sudden the damn republicans are having a hissy fit over anything and everything saying that it is just too expensive, we can’t afford it, how are we going to pay for it.I said then, and I will say it again.. that comment needs to be pulled out and played over and over again every time one of these rethugs open their pie holes..

  • cjo30080

    Correct me if I’m wrong Bob, but I think the credit for the idea at the end of your post above goes to Steve Benen.

  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    Exactly, Annette. They were party to, and the enabler of, the largest expansion of our government ever. They seem to forget that. But, of course, the expansion favored industry and business, not ordinary Americans, so it was ok and they would support health care reform now if the bill simply said “Give 1 Trillion dollars to the health care industry and you guys just keep doing what you’re doing now and don’t let us get in the way.”That would be no problem.

  • http://arkytek.blogspot.com/ SillyGit

    Can that Cash Rocket® be retargeted at Teh Dick™?

  • dc_wilson

    But you see, to them, it’s different. Giving a blank check to Bush to wage war is a good thing because they were killing nonChristians.