The Liberty Papers

Edwards appears to be leading the charge of Democrats on this issue. He’s likely to drag the entire left side of the field over to promising some form of universal coverage. This may be either the rallying cry for our populace to raid each others wallets, or the death knell of Democrat ’08 electoral chances. Either way, he’s at least honest about what it’s going to cost.

Edwards’ health care plan includes taxes

Health care coverage would no longer be optional in the United States under a plan announced Monday by presidential candidate
John Edwards that would require all businesses to provide insurance and all Americans to have it.

The 2004 vice presidential nominee said he would raise taxes to pay for the plan’s cost of up to $120 billion a year.

…

Edwards said he would free up money for health care coverage by abolishing
President Bush’s tax cuts for people who make more than $200,000 a year and by having the government collect more back taxes.

“Yes, we’ll have to raise taxes,” Edwards said on NBC. “The only way you can pay for a health care plan that costs anywhere from $90 (billion) to $120 billion is there has to be a revenue source.”

I don’t, for a second, believe that this and all the other spending programs we need to pay for will be financed by increasing taxes on those making over $200K. They can claim that, but I guarantee every one of us will feel the sting. The Democrats are making noise about how wonderfully “fiscally responsible” they are, and $240B per year* is a LOT of new spending.

The question is whether the government has screwed up our health care system enough that the people will be duped into letting them take the whole thing over.

* I am accounting for the 2x rule of government: Whatever they claim it will cost, double it.