One can understand their desire to wrap Obamacare up with a nice little Senate bow by Christmas Day. After all, the Senate bill would start (in any meaningful way) by around Christmas Christmas future, that is. The Congressional Budget Office says that less than 2 percent of the bill’s costs from 2010 to 2019 would kick in by Christmas of 2013.
But in another sense, the bill really does capture the holiday spirit of giving. MoveOn.org says that the bill would be “a massive giveaway to the insurance companies” and, for once, MoveOn.org is right. The bill would require Americans to buy the insurers’ product and would transfer colossal sums of money from American taxpayers to insurance companies to make such mandatory purchases more feasible. According to the CBO, in its real first dozen years (2014 to 2025), the bill would provide $1.0 trillion in taxpayer-financed subsidies that would ultimately be paid to insurance companies.
One imagines Dr. Evil, of the Austin Powers movies, standing before the insurance companies and saying, “You’ll get one million dollars!” The insurers snicker. Dr. Evil pauses, and then declares: “You’ll get one trillion dollars!” The insurers stop snickering. Such is how it would be under Obamacare.
But with the East Coast covered with snow and Christmas almost here, let us count our blessings. Among the sweetest of those is this: We live in a free country, in which the government is beholden to the people, who alone are the Sovereign power. We hold elections, we choose who will represent us, and we ultimately decide what laws will be passed or repealed. Those who would compromise our liberty by un-tethering the government from its proper limits, and allowing it to control whole swaths of our society, would do well to remember that they cannot similarly deny us the liberty of voting them out of office.
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
The Senator Who Stole Christmas
Jeffrey H. Anderson
One can understand their desire to wrap Obamacare up with a nice little Senate bow by Christmas Day. After all, the Senate bill would start (in any meaningful way) by around Christmas Christmas future, that is. The Congressional Budget Office says that less than 2 percent of the bill’s costs from 2010 to 2019 would kick in by Christmas of 2013.
But in another sense, the bill really does capture the holiday spirit of giving. MoveOn.org says that the bill would be “a massive giveaway to the insurance companies” and, for once, MoveOn.org is right. The bill would require Americans to buy the insurers’ product and would transfer colossal sums of money from American taxpayers to insurance companies to make such mandatory purchases more feasible. According to the CBO, in its real first dozen years (2014 to 2025), the bill would provide $1.0 trillion in taxpayer-financed subsidies that would ultimately be paid to insurance companies.
One imagines Dr. Evil, of the Austin Powers movies, standing before the insurance companies and saying, “You’ll get one million dollars!” The insurers snicker. Dr. Evil pauses, and then declares: “You’ll get one trillion dollars!” The insurers stop snickering. Such is how it would be under Obamacare.
But with the East Coast covered with snow and Christmas almost here, let us count our blessings. Among the sweetest of those is this: We live in a free country, in which the government is beholden to the people, who alone are the Sovereign power. We hold elections, we choose who will represent us, and we ultimately decide what laws will be passed or repealed. Those who would compromise our liberty by un-tethering the government from its proper limits, and allowing it to control whole swaths of our society, would do well to remember that they cannot similarly deny us the liberty of voting them out of office.
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.