"Read 'em and weep"

The favorite expression around the Sigma Chi house in college after a winner in a poker game laid down his cards, was "Read 'em and weep."

We're two years into the vast economic and social re-engineering experiment that was labeled as Obamacare, and now we are learning the real costs. The winners then aren't so sure today. This week the Obama administration admitted its math was flawed in its assumptions about a key provision of the bill. The "Community Living Assistance Services and Supports" proved to be unsustainable. It was a disability program actuaries panned even before Obamacare passed, but it was thrown into the final bill, some say, as a tribute to its champion, Senator Ted Kennedy.

Nancy Pelosi once famously said, "We have to pass this bill so we can find out what's in it." Stunning! And now we know. The winners and the losers in the Obamacare fight are all weeping now:

OBAMACARE

By The Numbers

$2.6 Trillion:	True Cost Of ObamaCare Once Fully Implemented. (Office Of The Speaker Of The U.S. House Of Representatives, Report, 1/6/11)
$701 Billion:	Amount ObamaCare Will Add To The Deficit. (Office Of The Speaker Of The U.S. House Of Representatives, Report, 1/6/11)
$575 Billion:	Cost Of Medicare Cuts In ObamaCare. (CMS Chief Actuary Richard S. Foster, Memo, 4/22/10)
$491.7 Billion:	Taxes Raised In ObamaCare. (Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 3/18/10;Joint Committee On Taxation, 3/2/10)
$450 Billion:	Cost Of ObamaCare “Glitch” Allowing The Middle-Class To Qualify For Medicaid.(Avik Roy, “The 450 Billion Glitch: 3 Million Extra Middle-Class Americans Eligible For Medicaid Benefits,” Forbes, 6/21/11)
$401 Billion:	Increase In Federal Entitlement Spending From ObamaCare. (“The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update,” Congressional Budget Office, August 2010)
$210 Billion:	Amount Of Income Taxes Collected Over 10 Years Through ObamaCare.("Estimated Revenue Effects Of The Manager's Amendment To The Revenue Provisions Contained In The 'Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,"Joint Committee On Taxation Report, 3/20/10; Editorial, “Taxes Upon Taxes Upon…,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/11/11)
$145 Billion:	Cost Of ObamaCare Cuts To Medicare Advantage. (CMS Chief Actuary Richard S. Foster, “Estimated Financial Effects Of The 'Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,' As Amended,” Memo, 4/22/10)
$80 Billion:	ObamaCare’s CLASS Program “Zombie” Savings In The Federal Budget. (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “‘Zombie’ In The Budget: Long-Term Health Care Plan,” The Associated Press, 10/8/11)
$60 Billion:	Health Insurance Tax On Businesses. ("Estimated Revenue Effects Of The Manager's Amendment To The Revenue Provisions Contained In The 'Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,"Joint Committee On Taxation Report, 3/20/10; Editorial, “Taxes Upon Taxes Upon…,” The Wall Street Journal,7/11/11)

As I suggested in an earlier post last week, no one really can predict the future, but I know this much - if Obamacare is not struck down by the Supreme Court on the legal issue of the individual mandate, it must be defunded, repealed and buried deeply in the bowels of Mother Earth before its costs bury us as a nation.

Thanks to Senator Mike Lee's website for this summary.