(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The long-awaited health care proposal from the Senate Finance committee is finally out; and in it, the Democrats insist the $856 billion bill would not add to the federal deficit.
That's a claim we've been hearing a lot these days... with President Obama promising he won't sign a bill that adds "one dime" to the deficit.
But a lot of people have a hard time believing that, especially since there haven't been many specifics on how the country will pay for this nearly $900 billion plan over the next 10 years.
One potential source of revenue the president mentions is that the bill would get rid of "hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud" in the Medicare program. Really? Details, please...
If there's really so much to be saved from Medicare - why wait? Why not start now? Here's how a recent editorial in the Washington Post described it:
"When politicians start talking about paying for programs by cutting 'waste and abuse,' you should get nervous. When they don't provide specifics - and when the amounts under discussion are in the hundreds of billions of dollars - you should get even more nervous."
The president still needs to give specifics about taxes and spending cuts, and where the money will come to pay for this thing beyond 10 years.
Meanwhile congressional Democrats are admitting that they're having a hard time meeting the "restrictions" the president laid out - including his limiting the price tag to $900 billion over 10 years.
Here’s my question to you: When it comes to paying for health care reform, do you think it's possible to "eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud" from Medicare?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Recent Comments