Rescinding the federal law to overhaul the health care system, the first objective of House Republicans who ascended to power this week, would ratchet up the federal deficit by about $230 billion over the next decade and leave 32 million more Americans uninsured, according to congressional budget analysts. The rough estimate by the Congressional Budget Office also predicts that most Americans would pay more for private health insurance if the law were repealed. The 10-page forecast was delivered to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), installed a day earlier to shepherd the new GOP majority. He immediately dismissed it.
Here is a PDF of the CBO analysis. As you can see, it goes into significant detail, is sober and serious, and obviously took a great deal of work by some really smart people. The response by BONEr? No, he didn’t come back with his own, detailed analysis, challenging the assumptions, modeling parameters, or anything else about the CBO analysis. Instead, to paraphrase Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous quote, BONEr essentially responded that he’s entitled not just to his own opinions, but also to his own facts. This, essentially, is the Republican way: ignore facts (climate science, budgetary projections, economics, you name it) you don’t like, make up your own magical reality (e.g., supply side economics, “government takeover of health care,” “death panels”), outright lie to people (see Cantor, Eric and Palin, Sarah and…), and take it from there. Sadly, the voters in their infinite wisdom actually rewarded the Republicans in November 2010 for their utter irresponsibility.
Speaking of utter irresponsibility, watch here as John BONEr can’t name a single government program he would cut. Not one. Zip. Nada. Zilch. It must be great to live in a world where facts, reason, and reality can simply be brushed aside whenever you feel like it. Sort of like an Ayn Rand novel or a Glenn Beck show or something. It’s enough to make a grown man want to weep. Oh wait, that’s John BONEr’s job. Heh.
UPDATE: Would voting to repeal health care reform violate the Republicans’ own newly-adopted, albeit extremely weak, pay-as-you-go rules?
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