The new health law creates $917 billion in entitlements through 2019 and possibly twice that cost in the second decade. It loosens the eligibility rules for Medicaid and adds 18 million people to the rolls, nearly doubling Medicaid enrollment. The law also creates a brand-new entitlement for moderate-income households (earning up the $88,000 a year)to get taxpayer-funded subsidies for private insurance.
Half of the price tag for these new entitlements is paid for with tax hikes, but the other half comes from slashing future funding for Medicare by $575 billion through 2019. People who have paid into the system their whole working lives and are counting on it will get less care, because the money is being shifted to support a vast expansion of government dependents.
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