The CBO report is in—but it's not the whole story. Do not be fooled by figures that include ten years of revenue against six years of spending.¹ Gimmick-free accounting shows a deficit increase of $460 billion for the first ten years and $1.4 trillion in the second ten.²

Do not be fooled by cost projections for such a large entitlement expansion. History proves they have never been right—usually off by a factor of 10 or more. Consider the following figures:³

• 1966 Medicare 25 year cost projection: $12 billion
  Actual cost: $107 billion
• 1987 Medicaid 5 year cost projection: $1 billion
  Actual cost: $17 billion
• 1988 Medicare home care benefit cost projection: $4 billion
  Actual cost: $10 billion

Do not be fooled by the report that counts on cuts to Medicare which have never occurred. Or worse, that quality of care will not suffer if the cuts ever do go through. Do not believe the blatant lie "If you like your plan you can keep it." Medicare destroyed the private health insurance industry for seniors, and this will destroy private health insurance for the rest of us.

But the greatest cost of all is how attempts to pass this bill are undermining of the rule of law and the very mechanisms of our Constitutional republic. This bill is a direct assault on the freedom and independence of all citizens, in clear violation of the fundamental purpose of government: the protection of individual rights.

No man can morally be made the means to another's end. I know you know all of this. I just want you to know that the rest of us know it too. Please vote no.

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¹ Congressional Budget Office, March 18, 2010

² Eberhart, D. "Paul Ryan: Obamacare will raise medical costs" Newsmax, February 25, 2010

³ Hayward and Peterson, "The Medicare Monster" Reason, January 1993

Beth Haynes, MD, is a physician in California. She blogs on economics, business, and cultural issues at Wealth Is Not the Problem and Simply Capitalism.

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