The bill's real first ten years are from 2014 to 2023, during which time the Congressional Budget Office says the $1.8-trillion bill would raise Americans' taxes by $892 billion, would funnel $802 billion out of Medicare, and — if it didn't follow through on its pledge to cut doctors' payments under Medicare by 23 percent in 2011 and never raise them back up — would increase deficits by $286 billion.

These are the figures that accurately reflect the bills' costs, taxes, Medicare cuts, and deficit-spending. Yet, so far, most Republicans have seemingly been content to cite the figures for taxes and Medicare cuts that the Democrats want them to cite — figures that (whether by careful design or not) come in below the threshold figure of $500 billion.

Republicans should be talking about the bill's $800 billion increases in taxes, the $800 billion it would siphon from Medicare to spend elsewhere, and the fact that it would either cut doctors' payments by $431 billion or increase deficits by nearly $300 billion — one or the other.  They shouldn't be cutting those figures in half.

11/20 10:07 AM
This blog post originally appeared on National Review's Critical Condition.