Are Health Care Industry Lobbyists Really Proposing to Reduce Their Members’ Revenue by $2 Trillion?

I smell a rat.  Lobbyists never advocate less revenue for their members.  Ever.  If they did, they would be fired and replaced with new lobbyists.

The industry wants universal coverage, because that means more customers and more revenue.  But universal coverage is expensive: it could cost $2 trillion itself.

If you tax your way to $2 trillion, the people revolt.  If you try to “free up” the money by cutting payments to the industry, the industry revolts.  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) says he has reforms that will reduce health care spending over time, but the Congressional Budget Office won’t recognize those assumed savings.

So the industry may simply be trying to help Sen. Baucus cook the books by signaling, “Hey CBO – we’ll make sure those reforms work!” – with every intention of fighting those spending reductions later on.