Hidden Costs of Health Care Bill - Price Tag of Legislation Over a Trillion Dollars and Stealthily Growing

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Democrat health care bill unveiled last week has been subject to various cost estimates, resulting in much confusion regarding the true cost of the legislation.  The most recent estimate of the Pelosi health care bill from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) indicates that the legislation will total over $1.1 trillion over 10 years. However, this estimate does not include spending for multiple programs funded with discretionary dollars under the Appropriations process.

 

In fact, in addition to large sums of funding specifically outlined in the bill but not included in the CBO estimate, the bill contains language that allows various programs to spend “such sums as may be necessary” – or virtually unlimited streams of funding to be decided in future Appropriations bills.    

 

House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis expressed his dismay at this open-ended funding language as well as the exorbitant cost of the overall legislation.

 

“This flawed legislation is already expected to cost the taxpayers over a trillion dollars, yet hidden costs and unlimited funding provisions within the bill make it even more expensive than anyone has yet realized. How can Members of Congress cast informed votes on a bill when there is no way to know the true cost to the American taxpayer?” Lewis said.

 

Lewis continued, “The bottom line is the cost of this health care bill is over a trillion and growing, and we have no way of knowing the ultimate price or effects of this massive and unrestricted spending. It is simply irresponsible of Congress to pass a health care bill without understanding these basic facts or doing anything to restrain this immense cost. ”

 

The following is list of several program costs that were not included in CBO’s estimate:

 

 

H.R. 3962 Page #	Program Name	Authorized Amount
Page 69	Wellness Program Grants	Such sums as may be necessary*
Page 206	Assistance to Compacting States	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 210	Start-up and Solvency Grants and Loans	5,000,000,000 (over 5 years)
Page 863	National Independent Monitor Pilot Program	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1349	Improvements to 340B Program Integrity	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1381	Comprehensive Programs to Provide Education to Nurses and Create a Pipeline to Nursing	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1397	No Child Left Unimmunized against Influenza: Demonstration Program…	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1421	Postpartum Depression (Expansion and Intensification of Activities)	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1430	Grants to Promote Positive Health Behaviors and Outcomes	$150,000,000 (over 5 years)
Page 1433	Incentive Payments for Medical Liability Reform	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1436	Infant Mortality Pilot Programs	$50,000,000
Page 1440	Secondary Schools Health Sciences Training Program	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1457	Community-Based Collaborative Care Network Program	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1462	Community-Based Overweight and Obesity Prevention Program	$10,000,000 + such sums
Page 1464	Reducing Student-to-School Nurse Ratios	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1467	Medical-Legal Partnerships	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1477	Emergency Care-Related Programs	$100,000,000 + Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1618	Indian Health Care Improvement –Activities Regarding Women’s Health	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1666	Indian Health Care Improvement –American Indians into Psychology Program	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1724	Indian Health Care Improvement – Human Resources and Development	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1769	Indian Health Care Improvement – Health Services	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1820	Indian Health Care Improvement – Facilities	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1849	Indian Health Care Improvement – Access to Health Services	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1884	Indian Health Care Improvement – Health Services for Urban Indians	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1917	Indian Health Care Improvement – Indian Youth Telemental Health Demonstration Program	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1935	Indian Health Care Improvement –Behavioral Health Programs	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1961	Indian Health Care Improvement –Miscellaneous Provisions	Such sums as may be necessary
Page 1974	Native American Health and Wellness Foundation	$500,000 for each fiscal year

 

* “Such Sums” - Several of the programs in H.R. 3962 are funded under provisions that allow the expenditure of “such sums as may be necessary” to carry out the purpose of the relevant section of legislation. This ill-defined and virtually unlimited funding would be decided in future Appropriations bills, and is not included in the most recent CBO overall cost estimate.