New York Times: Pelosi Lied - Health Care Bill Costs $1.055 Trillion

New York Times: Pelosi Lied - Health Care Bill Costs $1.055 Trillion

"The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." - Nancy Pelosi Victory Speech, November 7, 2006

The incessant stream of lies out of the Democrats is amazing. This is the New York Times flat out saying that Pelosi tried to pull one over on us on the cost of her bill.

Throughout Thursday, news accounts, including our own, focused on $894 billion, the total cost given out by aides to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, before the official cost analysis was released by the Congressional Budget Office.

But a closer look at the budget office report suggests that the number everyone should have reported was $1.055 trillion, which is the gross cost of the insurance coverage provisions in the bill before taking account of certain new revenues, including penalties by individuals and employers who fail to meet new insurance requirements in the bill.

The $894 billion figure that was initially seized on was not chosen at random. It is featured prominently in the budget office report as the net cost of the insurance coverage provisions in the bill. But the net coverage cost is not the number that lawmakers, the news media and other experts and analysts have focused on in recent months.

For instance, the bill initially proposed by Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, after months of negotiations with a bipartisan group of five other senators, was projected by the budget office to have a gross cost $774 billion.

After two weeks of public debate by the Finance Committee and votes on numerous amendments, the bill ended up with a projected gross cost of $829 billion. Both the $774 billion and $829 billion figures are comparable to the $1.055 trillion gross cost of the House measure.