[Azure]

Originally Posted by starseed

I was just taking the estimated number of 1.5T over 10 years, and your estimate of 8K per year per person over 10 years then comparing it to what that article said the status quo would be. Which would be an average of ~10.5K per year per person over the next nine years... which would mean that Obama's plan would cut costs by more than 30%.

Again, the article is talking about costs in 20 years. The $1.5T over 10 years is an 'estimate' by the CBO. Nobody knows for sure what the actual cost will be in the end, or in 20 years.

Even the $1.5T could be a lot higher....considering this is a government program.

Bottom line....

Health care costs will top $8,000 per person this year, consuming an ever-bigger slice of a shrinking economic pie, says the report by the Department of Health and Human Services, due out Tuesday.

Which is basically what Obamacare is going to cost as well....going by the estimate by the CBO. Nothing gained there.

But, there are a few things to point out.

As the recession cuts into tax receipts, Medicare's giant hospital trust fund is running out of cash more rapidly, and could become insolvent as early as 2016, the report said. That's three years sooner than previously forecast.At the same time, the government's already large share of the nation's health care bill will keep growing.

Programs such as Medicaid are expanding to take up some of the slack as more people lose job-based coverage. And baby boomers will soon start reaching 65 and signing up for Medicare. Those trends together mean that taxpayers will be responsible for more than half of the nation's health care bill by 2016 — just seven years from now.

The health care cost forecast did not take into account recent legislation that expanded medical coverage for children of low income working parents, and added to the government's obligations.

All from your article. Now, its extremely hard to find the simple facts of the health care plan Obama is proposing, so correct me if I'm wrong here....but IIRC, the plan wouldn't change any of the existing government coverage, so all those costs would still exist.

So, while the NEW health care bill might only cost $1.5T over 10 years, what about the existing costs right now? Are all those going to be added in?