Framing the Dialogue

Posts Tagged ‘CBO’

News Briefs – Volume XIX It’s All About Healthcare Baby

News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories and this edition is all about Obamacare…

Brief 1:  Many seasoned citizens were shocked at AARP’s support of the Obamacare legislation which contained a significant cuts to doctor’s fees and cuts in allowable payments to hospitals.  The fear, of course, is that many provider would simply stop accepting Medicare patienst, a majority of which are the aforementioned senior citizens.  One had to wonder who the AARP, a membership organization, was actually lobbying for?  Just recently the AARP had announced that their employees will see a rise in their health care costs in a statement from an AARP spokesperson;

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Misunderestimating

I wasn’t sure whether to  list this posting as an update to I Dream of Health Care or my review for Judge Napolitano’s book Lies the Government Told You.  I punted and selected neither.

This headline from the Associated Press may qualify for the Homer Simpson “DUH” awards;  “Report: Health overhaul will increase tab.”  The assessment wasn’t by any “right-winged” think tank or pundit.  The Health and Human Services Department provided the bad news except that it is too late as the bill is now law.  The article listed more bad news regarding long-term care insurance and medicare so read at your own risk.  Here are some of my predictions:

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Obfuscate (ob – fuh – skeyt)

Obfuscate is defined in as:

“To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand”

Synonyms: muddle, perplex, cloud

President Obama often starts his remarks with the statement “I want to be very clear” then obfuscates the topic.  (this is a semi-quote from Rush Limbaugh.  Since I was driving I have to rely on my memory as to the exact phrasing.)

Can you give me an example?

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Trillion (tril – yen)

Trillion is defined as:

“a number represented by 1 followed by 12 zeros or an indefinite but very large number.”

It seems like the folks in Washington, D.C have successfully made the leap from billions of dollars to trillions of dollars.  What amazes me is how little uproar there is from the government funders (AKA taxpayers) as these massive numbers are bandied about.

Can you use it in a sentence?

“The Congressional Budget Office on Friday said that, if the Obama budget unveiled last month were approved, the federal government would run deficits averaging nearly $1 trillion a year over the next decade.”

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