True North

Sunday evening, Al Franken posted his thoughts on why he's voting for the Democrats' health care legislation. Here's one of the 'highlights' from the post:

Requiring insurance companies to spend 85% of premiums on actual health services, not administrative costs, TV ads, or gargantuan CEO bonuses, is a big victory. Senator Rockefeller and I worked hard to get that provision included because it holds insurance companies accountable and will put an end to exploding premiums and obscene profits, a huge win for progressives.

Sen. Franken is actually bragging about the Democrats' legislation giving this administration proxy control of health insurance companies. They aren't the CEO of the insurance companies. They'll settle for being the CEOs' puppetmasters. This is TARP without the companies being in financial straights.

Sen. Franken, good luck getting that provision to pass the Constitution's test.

Sen. Franken apparently thinks that this provision's end run around the Constitution is "a big victory" for progressives. My question is why Sen. Franken thinks ignoring the Constitution is any sort of victory. After all, when he was sworn in, he took an oath to protect the Constitution.

QUESTION: Does Sen. Franken take his oath seriously? If he does, it'd be nice to see him prove it with his actions.

To earn my vote, health insurance reform must improve access to affordable health care for Minnesota families, and this bill clears that bar with room to spare. This bill does not fix all the problems with our health care system, and I will not stop working to improve the quality and lower the costs of health care for all Americans.

Sen. Franken knows that this bill increases health care costs, raises insurance premiums, explodes the deficit and lowers health care outcomes. At least, he should know these things. Health care costs are going up because the Democrats' legislation contains $518,000,000,000 of tax increases, which will get passed onto health care consumers.

According to Wellpoint's actuarial study, health insurance premiums are going up:

WellPoint found that a healthy 25-year-old in Milwaukee buying coverage on the individual market will see his costs rise by 178%. A small business based in Richmond with eight employees in average health will see a 23% increase. Insurance costs for a 40-year-old family with two kids living in Indianapolis will pay 106% more.

Sen. Franken must be ignoring this study because, if he was intellectually honest, he wouldn't say that the Democrats' bill "improve[s] access to affordable health care for Minnesota families" or that it passes that "this bill clears that bar with room to spare." The Democrats' legislation doesn't clear that bar, much less clearing it with room to spare.

These reforms are fiscally responsible and crucial to our long-term economic health. By bringing down costs and focusing on prevention and high-value health care, more Americans will get screenings to prevent diseases before they become costly and disabling. We'll also make providers accountable for making people healthier, rewarding them for efficient care. In the end, this bill will save money and keep our country healthier while cutting the deficit by $132 billion in the first ten years and $650 billion in the second ten.

The $132,000,000,000 figure is a myth because it wouldn't happen if you matched up the years of expenses with the years of increasing taxes. Instead, the Democrats' legislation starts collecting taxes in 2010 but doesn't start paying expenditures until 2014.

The other reason why that figure is a myth is because it (a) expects Congress to actually cut Medicare by $470,000,000,000 and (b) doesn't include the $274,000,000,000 for the doctor fix. BTW, cutting Medicare by $470,000,000,000 in the first decade represents a 21% cut to Medicare.

If there's one thing that this Congress isn't noted for, it's cutting spending on their pet programs. In fact, the only thing that the Democrats' leadership believes in cutting is cutting Republicans from negotiations on legislation.

The plain simple truth is, because of this legislation crafted by Leader Reid and others in the Senate, 31 million more Americans will have affordable health insurance and the growth in health care costs for families will be dramatically diminished.

The CMS actuary said that health care spending will increase by $235,000,000,000 in the first decade. My math skills tell me that increasing health care costs isn't the right path to "dramatically" diminishing families' health care costs. Perhaps it's different in the alternate universe that Sen. Franken apparently lives in.

Summarizing, Sen. Franken (a) thinks that ignoring the Constitution is "a big victory" for progressives, (b) thinks that raising taxes by half a trillion dollars will lower health care costs and (c) misrepresents the facts, choosing instead to use the Democrats' discredited talking points.

Comments welcome at LFR.