In 1966 Medicare cost $3 billion and the House Ways & Means Committee estimated that cost to rise to $12 billion by 1990. The actual program cost in 1990 was $107 billion, over nine times the original estimate. Medicare spent $330 billion in 2005.

Medicaid costs were estimated by Congress in 1987. They said the program would cost $1 billion in 1992. The actual cost in 1992 was $17 billion, exactly 17 times the estimated cost. Medicaid costs in 2005 were over $180 billion.

In 2006 the combined program expenditures before the prescription drug program was added was over $500 billion.

The current bill passed out of the House is $1.2 trillion over ten years. Gauging its actual cost from the previous examples would place the actual cost at somewhere around $15 trillion by 2020 (1.2 x (17×9)/2)). If this prediction is only ½ right; by 2020 our annual budgetary considerations will be such that we’ll cease to be a country and become a health care plan with an army: And a poorly funded army at that.

The company I work for now covers my health care while I pay for dependents. Health care deduction from my checks now amount to $425.14 per month or 5,101.72 per year to cover my wife (the kids are gone). My annual gross salary is @ $35,500.

The current bill says that an employer must pay an 8% payroll tax if they decide not to cover employee’s health. Since my wife and I are within 6 months of each other in age, I can only assume that my health insurance costs the company about the same amount that I pay to cover my spouse. 8% of $35,500 is $2,168.65. What CFO is going to balk at a $2,240 net savings per year? This simultaneously raises my health insurance costs from 14% of my annual gross income to 28% of AGI! This immediately places me on a government run health plan; forcing me to say “Bye-bye” to a health plan we’ve had for over a decade and are extremely satisfied with.

Finally; this health care plan is being sold to the American People as a ‘right’. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This health care plan constitutes a right for the state, not the individual. In order to highlight this, let’s look at another government program.

I believe we can all agree that the control the federal government has over the public school system is ubiquitous. The amount of money the federal government contributes to public school operation budgets averages 7% by district. If they demand that type of control for seven cents on the dollar; what kind of iron-fisted control do you think the federal government will demand over each and every facet of your live for the cost of your health care premium?

That is why I say it is a right for the state, not the individual. They will decide who can and cannot be born. For those lucky enough to make it out of the birth canal, they will decide where you live, how you live, and how long you live. They will decide what you may consume; including how much and what types of food, how much square footage you occupy and where, how much energy you may consume and of what types, how many hours you work, sleep, and recreate. Each decision will be predicated on what is best for the continued existence of the state. I can guarantee that, at some point, this constant cost/benefit analysis will come out against the favor of the state and when that happens they will make the last, final decision regarding your continued existence.

This health care bill fundamentally alters the contract between the federal government and the American people. Once placed into law, we will cease to be the grand experiment in self government we started out as.