Category Archives: The Economy

I’m sorry, but the GOP hypocrisy is turning deadly.

Isn’t this the Party that made so much noise about “Death Panels” during the Health Care Reform Debate?  Looks like they are the ones who ultimately instituted them…

PHOENIX — A second person denied transplant coverage by Arizona under a state budget cut has died, with this death “most likely” resulting from the coverage reduction, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

University Medical Center spokeswoman Jo Marie Gellerman said the patient died Dec. 28 at another medical facility after earlier being removed from UMC’s list for a liver transplant needed because of hepatitis C.

Gellerman cited medical privacy requirements in declining to release any information about the patient.

Arizona reduced Medicaid coverage for transplants on Oct. 1 under cuts included to help close a shortfall in the state budget enacted last spring.

Officials at the Tucson, Ariz., hospital said the patient’s death “most likely” resulted from Arizona’s scaling back coverage for transplants, she said.

It’s impossible to say with 100 percent certainty whether the patient would have died anyway, Gellerman said, “but we do know that his condition has gotten more severe since he was taken off the list.”

More from the Huffington Post:   2nd Arizona Patient Dies After State Budget Cuts Deny Transplant.

Talk about inconvenient truths….

Of course, the GOP Leadership has a way of just ignoring any facts that are inconvenient to their agenda…

Moments ago, the Congressional Budget Office released its cost estimate for the GOP’s health care repeal bill — H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, introduced yesterday in the House by the new Republican majority:

– 32 million Americans will lose coverage compared to current law: “Under H.R. 2, about 32 million fewer nonelderly people would have health insurance in 2019, leaving a total of about 54 million nonelderly people uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, compared with a projected share of 94 percent under current law (and 83 percent currently).” (p. 8-9)

– Increases deficit by $230 billion over 10 years: “Consequently, over the 2012–2021 period, the effect of H.R. 2 on federal deficits as a result of changes in direct spending and revenues is likely to be an increase in the vicinity of $230 billion, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes to CBO’s and JCT’s projections for that period.” (p. 5)

– Huge deficit increases over next decade: “Correspondingly, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2 would increase federal deficits in the decade after 2019 by an amount that is in a broad range around one-half percent of GDP, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes that CBO and JCT will include in the forthcoming estimate. For the decade beginning after 2021, the effect of H.R. 2 on federal deficits as a share of the economy would probably be somewhat larger.” (p. 7)

– Individuals would pay more for health insurance: “Although premiums in the individual market would be lower, on average, under H.R. 2 than under current law, many people would end up paying more for health insurance— because under current law, the majority of enrollees purchasing coverage in that market would receive subsidies via the insurance exchanges, and H.R. 2 would eliminate those subsidies.” (p. 9-10)

– Average health care benefits would be worse: “In particular, if H.R. 2 was enacted… the average insurance policy in this market would cover a smaller share of enrollees’ costs for health care and a slightly narrower range of benefits.” (p.9)

– Premiums for employer-sponsored insurance would increase: “Premiums for employment-based coverage obtained through large employers would be slightly higher under H.R. 2 than under current law, reflecting the net impact of many relatively small changes.” (p. 10)

More:   ThinkProgress » New CBO Analysis: GOP’s Push For Health Law Repeal Would Increase Deficit By $230 Billion Over 10 Years.

It’s already getting interesting…

I wonder if anyone will notice how the GOP is changing the rules and attempting to put forth an alternate reality.

No one seems to have noticed so far….or they wouldn’t be back in power in the House…

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats, removed from their rhetorical shackles by the coming Republican control of the House, are accusing the GOP of resorting to “Enron-type accounting” in their efforts to push legislation in the next Congress.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the incoming ranking member of the House Budget Committee, warned on Tuesday that Republican leadership is set to implement new rules that would effectively do away with the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is often regarded as a nonpartisan, independent scorekeeper for Congress. And by taking away its input in legislative matters, Van Hollen said, Republicans were ushering in an era of make-your-own-reality-based budgeting.

“This is a huge loophole for Enron-type accounting … In the rule they pass tomorrow they are going to reiterate that the chair of the budget committee has the authority to come up with his own estimate of the budget impact of various pieces of legislation,” Van Hollen told the Huffington Post. “And a week from now, when they get around to repealing health care reform I think you will see they will go down and say this has zero cost impact.”

“It is a wholesale disregard of CBO estimates,” Van Hollen added. “After all, CBO is the one referee we have around here when it comes to the budget. So again, we are watching this unfold. But it does seem that they are putting in place the pieces to allow the Chairman of the Budget committee to literally make up the numbers as they go.”

The charges by the Van Hollen are fairly weighty in the wonky world of budgetary politics. But they underscore the extent to which Democrats feel that Republicans are turning the CBO and its scoring into partisan issues. Also on Tuesday, incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) accused the budget office of misrepresenting the cost of the health care law for the benefit of persuading skittish Democrats to support the bill (the CBO estimated that the Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion over ten years).

via Dems Accuse GOP Of ‘Enron-Type Accounting’ And Assaults On CBO.