CHESSNOID

Is it time to see where this money will come from to pay for health care for everyone?  During the campaign, Obama made it sound like the program would pay for itself through incredible savings found from becoming a more efficient health care system.  Now we get to see this plan and to see how it will be really funded.

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

– President Barack Obama Saturday proposed an additional $313 billion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other programs to pay for health care reforms expected to cost about $1 trillion over the next decade.

“I know some question whether we can afford to act this year. But the unmistakable truth is that it would be irresponsible to not act,” Obama said in an advance text of his weekly radio address.

Obama wants a health care reform bill on his desk by October, but faces opposition from Republicans who oppose creation of a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

Many of his fellow Democrats are wary of making deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. health care programs for seniors and poor people, to pay for reforms.

With the cost of U.S. health care continuing to rise rapidly, Obama argued the country could not afford to wait another year for sweeping changes.

But he acknowledged the ambitious plan would increase government costs in the short run.

Altogether, the Obama administration is now asking Congress to trim spending on Medicare and Medicaid by more than $600 billion over the next decade, which is more than some Democrats are willing to swallow.

Originally, Obama promised that all the funds to pay for these ambitious programs would come from all the rich people or households making over $250,000 a year. His plans have shifted course, and now the poorest people are expected to pay for everyone even though they can’t even make ends meet right now.