Hiding the additional cost of Dem health care

Washington Times:

The official $1.1 trillion price tag for the House Democrats' health care bill excludes dozens of unfunded programs that could drive up costs when future congresses look to fund them.

Republicans said the health care bill includes two dozen programs whose funding is listed as "such sums as may be necessary." That amounts to legislative jargon, they said, for "We'll bill you later."

The list of projects ranges from the "No child left unimmunized against influenza" project to 10 programs in the Indian health care system. There are also programs to encourage people to go into nursing and to spur states to restrain medical-malpractice lawsuits.

The tactic is far from new and has been used for years by Republicans and Democrats alike. The health reform examples are just the latest of what has become known as "fuzzy math" - the sort of budgeting that has been drawing extra scrutiny as the economy sputters, federal spending balloons and deficits deepen.

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You could also call it Enron accounting. It is clear that this bill is going to cost far more than we can ever afford and provide poorer service for most people. People who have insurance will be paying more for less service and people on Medicare will be getting significantly less benefit.

The NY Times reports that even Democrats are concerned about the failure to contain cost of health care in the legislation. Of course, the best way to do that is with health saving accounts. Democrats reject health savings accounts because they do not feed their control freak mind set.