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Max's Adventures in Wonderland
...According to the CBO, the Senate plan—which actually would cost more than earlier estimates, rising from nearly $800 billion to $829 billion (or $904 billion, according to a number of economists)—has triggered many excited journalists and politicians to claim that the bill miraculously would "pay for itself."

The CBO says that not only would it pay for itself—and this part is really wonderful—but also the government's spending an additional $829 billion over the next 10 years would reduce the federal deficit by $81 billion.

How exactly does health care "reform" pay for itself in Wonderland? In this case, it pays for itself by charging taxpayers new "fees," delivering new mandates and penalties, adding pass-through costs, and cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare.

As you know, if there's anything old folks—already prone to irascibility from time to time—absolutely adore it's the prospect of cutting their Medicare benefits. Yet even those savings seem to defy reality.

One of the many assumptions in the Baucus plan is that there would be continual cuts in physician reimbursements, cuts that Congress never has allowed and precious few onlookers believe would be politically palatable. So without a major attitude adjustment in Washington, this savings is just fantasy, as well.

Not to worry, though, there are sure things. One of the most popular and cost-effective programs, Medicare Advantage, would take a hit of $117 billion through 2019.

That might seem somewhat mysterious to you. Then again, Medicare Advantage involves private insurance firms (a curse on their house!), which should be squashed like a cockroach. ...

...According to Democrats, health care reform must be passed this very moment even though it wouldn't kick in until 2013. Don't worry; it would start taxing Americans in 2010, three years before you got nothing. ...