To many of us who live in the real world and understand math this next statement shouldn’t come as a shock to you – Increasing Medicare and Medicaid spending does not reduce Nationwide health care costs.
But alas, there are still many Leftists who labor under the delusion that adding more people onto an already over burdened system such as Medicare/Medicaid would somehow reduce the amount of money we spend as a nation on health care.
It is now known that only about 100,000 people have signed up for insurance on the Federal and State exchanges since the Obamacare website became ‘live’ on 01-OCT-13. This falls way short of the goal and any thinking adult would see this as a disaster but I saw this tweet tonight from @stevebenen (producer for Rachel Maddow show).
I questioned where this 500,000 number came from and he responded.
And I stated that this should not be cause for celebration but he thinks otherwise.
The Leftist theory that adding uninsured onto a government health care plan will cause them to seek preventative care vs. the higher cost emergency room care is great in theory, but that theory falls apart in the real world.
Adding around 400,000 (and a lot more in the future) people to Medicaid will NOT reduce the US health care costs and that is easily proven with historical data.
From the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services website, I can obtain the total US health care expenditures and spending for Medicare and Medicaid (both Federal and State) since 1960 and can graph them to see if increasing spending in Medicare/Medicaid drives down the overall health care spending in the US.
It does not!
Leftist continue to cling to the notions that people will act in the best financial interests when they are spending other peoples’ money. Unfortunately, that is not the way we’re wired.
cosmoscon 
Definitely want to reblog under your moniker. I love how you laid this out, and the scatter-plot is great.
Thanks Kyle!
I love that Mr. Benen refers to his ideology by saying: “In my reality”. WOW! If ever a statement summed up all that is wrong with Progressive/Leftist thinking, THAT has to be it. Unfortunately….HIS reality should line up with the ACTUAL REALITY that is the economic debacle of ObamaCare…
Yep great point. He’s entitled to his opinions but not his own reality. Reality, by definition, is not based on a person’s world view. But that is all meaningless to a Leftist who routinely deals in unicorns and rainbows.
As a local talk radio guy here in PGH often says: Liberalism is standing on your head and telling the rest of the world that it’s upside down…..
Love it!
Quinn?
You know it, tannngl!
😀 Listening to him now. Loved his term for progs: howling moon bats.
Why is it when the Cons rebuke the Progs they use well-laid out arguments replete with charts yet when they attack it’s with monikers (most specifically targeting the Tea Party or teabaggers as the like to say) such as knuckle dragging, Satan spawn?
Because they (the Progressives) are the Party of compassion?? Wait….no….THAT can’t be it….
I’ll get back to you….
Well according to them, we don’t care about helping the poor, the sick, the vets, the unemployed or the elderly. What the hell DO we care about? Their answer is money. I say help for the disenfranchised USED to some from charity and through the church but nowadays so many are dependent on entitlements, that is not possible.
http://www.ijreview.com/2013/11/95144-outrageous-video-msnbcs-martin-bashir-someone-should-defecate-in-sarah-palins-eyes-and-m/
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