Jenifer Rubin:
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... it was Richard Foster, the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who delivered a devastating blow to the ObamaCare supporters' claims of fiscal discipline.
First, came Foster's assault on the double-counting utilized in theCBO scoring:
REP. JOHN CAMPBELL(R- Calif.): "Is it legitimate to say... that you can add a dozen years to the solvency of Medicare or that you can reduce the deficit, but it is not correct to say both simultaneously?"
FOSTER: "Both will happen as a result of the same one set of savings, under Medicare. But it takes two sets of money to make it happen. It happens directly for the budget deficit, from the Medicare savings, and then when we need the money to extend the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, we have a promissory note - it's an IOU, not a worthless IOU, but it is an IOU - and Treasury has to pay that money back. But they have to get it from somewhere. That's the missing link."
Then he endorsed the idea behind Roadmap for America as a superior cost-savings mechanism. He also threw cold water on those touting ObamaCare as a way to save money. The A.P. reported:
Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.
The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates. . . .
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This should have been front page news, but we will keep talking about until it works its way to the front, because I don't think the Republicans are going to back down on this issue.
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