Obama's Tight Deadline Will Lead To Costly, Dangerous Bill

Common sense dictates that a health care bill that promises to bring sweeping change to the American economy shouldn't be rushed through without careful deliberation and a thorough weighing of its impact. It would be helpful if members of Congress read enough of the bill to understand it before casting a vote.

But President Barack Obama is in too big a hurry for that. He's pressing an artificial deadline of early August for passage of his health care proposal, one of the most complicated pieces of legislation ever taken up by Congress.

To get it done, he's teamed with the Democratic National Committee on campaign-style TV ads designed to frighten the American public into endorsing his plan even before they're informed of its scope, and is on a personal persuasion tour of the television networks to turn national sentiment against congressional skeptics. His tactic is to paint opponents as anti-change agents frightened of a progressive future.

Propaganda is no substitute for sound policymaking. Crafting a bill to radically restructure health care in this country, and get it right, will take far more time than the few months Congress has spent on the issue. The costs and consequences must be assessed.

Obama can't simply scoff away criticism of the bill. There are very significant concerns about the package, and not just from the Republicans Obama is trying to cast as the villains in this debate.

A key question has yet to be settled, and likely won't be in the few days remaining before Congress adjourns: What's the true cost of the package, and who will pay?

Douglas Elmendorf, head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, warned Congress that the bills would bring no real change in either the delivery of health care or how it's funded.

Congress has yet to address those concerns. He added that the proposal would add to the soaring budget deficit.

Governors from both parties are concerned about how much the Obama plan could become an unfunded mandate that drives up the cost of Medicaid, a program for the poor.

Ideas for financing the plan range from higher taxes on the wealthy to taxes on health insurance policies to taxes on employers who don't offer health benefits.

The two-thirds of Americans covered by employer-provided insurance face higher costs for less coverage and the risk of their plans being dumped on the government.

As a theory, Americans support universal health care coverage. But there's a limit to how much they're willing to pay out of their own pockets and how much control of their health care decisions they'll sacrifice.

These bills push those limits.

The health care plan Obama wants will cost between $1 trillion and $2 trillion over the next 10 years. The least he could do is give Congress not only the time to legitimately debate the measure, but also to read it. This is life-changing legislation. Congress should take the time to get it right.

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