Two Turtle Doves and budget busting heath care for all

It's simply not true that all American’s are in denial when it comes to funding Barack Obama’s enormous health care initiative.

The day after the Congressional Budget Office gave its blessing to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s version of the health reform bill - a Quinnipiac University poll of a cross section of voters - reported its results.

The poll question read: "President Obama has pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our federal budget deficit over the next decade.

Do you think that President Obama will be able to keep his promise or do you think that any health care plan that Congress passes and President Obama signs will add to the federal budget deficit?"

The answer: Only 19 percent of those polled think he will be able to keep his word.
9 of 10 Republicans and 8 of 10 independents said that whatever passes will add massive debt to the already over burdened deficit. Even Democrats agreed this is likely by a margin of four to three.

That fear contributed directly to the fact that the majority in this poll said they oppose the legislation now moving through Congress by a 16-point margin
The concern over the bill seems to be less about the much publicized fight over the public option or the issue of abortion coverage than it does the plausibility that the plan will be fiscally manageable.

While the Congressional Budget Office said that both the bill that recently passed the house and the Reid bill meet the Presidents goal of being budget-neutral, most experts agree currently, these bills will greatly overload an already overburdened budget.

Budget expert Douglas Holtz-Eakin says that "budget gimmicks" make it appear that Harry Reid's bill would reduce federal deficits by $130 billion by the year 2019.
One of those gimmicks is Reid's decision to postpone the start of subsidies to help the uninsured buy policies from mid-2013 to January 2014

long after taxes and fees levied by the bill would have begun.

So the health care financing games continue - but the challenge remains the same: Either find a way to make the promised savings real, or get back to the drawing board and craft a plan that really works without bleeding the country dry