The Real Cost of the Baucus Bill: $2 Trillion+

Via Instapundit, the Cato analysis exposes the several hidden costs in Baucus bill:

The CBO scoring makes it clear that the Baucus bill's reduction in future budget deficits comes not from controlling government spending or reducing health care costs, but because of a rapid escalation in tax revenues. ...

The Baucus bill will not reduce the deficit, and it would ultimately cost taxpayers more than $2 trillion—just like every other bill Congress has produced so far.

The biggest gimmick employed by the bill is that its individual mandate pushes more than half of the legislation's cost off-budget, and onto businesses and individuals who will have to shoulder that burden. ...

The second-biggest gimmick is assuming that Congress will let the "Sustainable Growth Rate" cuts in Medicare physician payments to occur. Starting in 2003, Congress has repeatedly blocked those cuts ...

Official cost of this is about $1 trillion. Real cost is $2 trillion ...

A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon we are talking about a real economy going down like the Titanic hitting an iceberg.