The Hill reports: A new Congressional Budget Office analysis of the health reform bill showing $115 billion in discretionary spending has quickly been turned into extra ammo for the GOP. “We can expect the true cost to grow even higher, since CBO noted this new estimate does not include 38 sections of grant programs, which cover 406 pages of legislation,” Energy and Commerce Republicans say in a press release. “While the Democrat authors of the law did not specify a funding level for these particular programs, they are certain to further increase spending.”… CBO also points out that it does not have enough information to estimate how much it would cost to fund the dozens of programs that have no price tag but for which the new law authorizes the appropriation of “such sums as may be necessary.”

President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law will increase the nation’s health care tab instead of bringing costs down, government economic forecasters concluded Thursday in a sobering assessment of the sweeping legislation.

A report by economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department said the health care remake will achieve Obama’s aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million Americans to the coverage rolls.

But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president’s twin goal of controlling runaway costs. It also warned that Medicare cuts may be unrealistic and unsustainable, driving about 15 percent of hospitals into the red and “possibly jeopardizing access” to care for seniors.

Read the full story here.

The Democrats’ unpopular health spending bill will slam middle-class Americans with multi-billion-dollar tax hikes, including $3.9 billion in new taxes in 2019 alone, according to a non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ official scorekeeper on legislation.  The Hill’s Jay Heflin reports:

Taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay roughly $3.9 billion more in taxes — in 2019 alone — because of healthcare reform, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ official scorekeeper for legislation. The new law raises $15.2 billion over 10 years by limiting the medical expense deduction, a provision widely used by taxpayers who either have a serious illness or are older.

The Los Angeles Times’ Noam Levey reports that the supposedly “historic” health care bill won’t even protect Americans from premium hikes.

Public outrage over double-digit rate hikes for health insurance may have helped push President Obama’s healthcare overhaul across the finish line, but the new law does not give regulators the power to block similar increases in the future.  And now, with some major companies already moving to boost premiums and others poised to follow suit, millions of Americans may feel an unexpected jolt in the pocketbook.  Although Democrats promised greater consumer protection, the overhaul does not give the federal government broad regulatory power to prevent increases.

A new Rasmussen survey notes that a massive 58 percent of Americans now support repealing the unpopular health spending bill:

Three weeks after Congress passed its new national health care plan, support for repeal of the measure has risen four points to 58%. That includes 50% of U.S. voters who strongly favor repeal…52% believe the health care plan will be bad for the country. Thirty-nine percent (39%) think it will be good for the country, and one percent (1%) more say it will have no impact. These numbers have changed little since the March 21 House vote to pass the health care bill.

In Wisconsin, Fox 21 News reports that Russ Feingold is staking his re-election bid on his costly and unpopular health care spending overhaul.

Key Democrats in Wisconsin say they’re proud of the recently passed federal health care bill, and plan to make it a big part of the fall election campaign… U.S. Senator Russ Feingold says the measure will provide more people with health insurance and improve the quality of those policies. He also says insurance companies will have to devote more revenue to health care coverage.

But a recent Rasmussen poll reveals:

Just 43% in Wisconsin favor the health care reform plan, while 54% are opposed. Those numbers include 25% who strongly favor the plan and 46% who strongly oppose it. Those results are similar to those found among voters on the national level. Just 36% of Wisconsin voters say Obama is doing a good or excellent job handling the health care issue, while 48% give him a poor rating.

Meanwhile, a new poll by left-leaning PPP reveals that Democrat Senate candidates are faring even worse after they rammed their contentious health care bill through Congress.

On average the Democratic candidate is now doing 2.4 points worse on the margin than before the health care bill.

Nationwide, the Associated Press reports that Democrats continue to slink around their home states and districts during the congressional recess.

As Washington Democrats hide from their constituents in the wake of a continued backlash against their health spending bill, the Los Angeles Times reports that Democrats are also avoiding their national party leader, President Obama:

[C]andidates all over the country have informed the White House that this would not be the best time for a presidential visit. The unpopularity of Obama’s healthcare reform, the anger of “tea party” activists over runaway spending in Washington, the stubborn unemployment numbers that have left millions of Americans still out of work — all are forcing Team Obama to be strategic about where to send the top of the ticket (not us of course).

In Nevada, Harry Reid reminds voters why his approval numbers are in the tank by demonstrating just how out-of-touch he is with his constituents. Despite numerous polls to the contrary, Reid told Fox News’ Gretta van Sustern that “everybody acknowledges with rare exception that what we did was terrific” when it comes to his massively unpopular health care overhaul. CLICK HERE TO WATCH

National Review Online points out that the last poll shows overwhelming opposition in Nevada to Reid’s health care bill, with 62 percent favoring its repeal.  The same Rasmussen poll shows Reid trailing by double digits in the General Election.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why do you think that there was such — and I don’t want to use a term that overstates it, but there were an awful lot of people who didn’t like it. More people were unhappy, I think, with the bill, the health care bill, than were happy with it. Why do you think that? REID: Because the loud minority made a lot of noise. Now that the legislation passed, it is amazing how much different people attitude is. I mean traveling on an airplane people are so nice to me. We have people — it wasn’t that way before… So everybody acknowledges with rare exception that what we did was terrific, and if there are some problems in out years we’ll be happy to look at them. Got that? Opposition to the health care bill is the “rare exception.” (The last poll in Nevada puts the “rare exceptions” at 62 percent.) By the way, Senator Reid, they’re called flight attendants, and they’re paid to be nice to you.

And The Hill’s Eric Zimmerman reports that Reid would have bragged about the Cornhusker Kickback “from the rooftops” if he were Ben Nelson:

The Nevada Democrat also expressed surprise that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) didn’t brag more about the so-called “Cornhusker kickback” that secured extra Medicaid funding for Nebraska. (That provision has since been extended to all the states.)”If I’d gotten that for Nevada, I’d have yelled it from the rooftops,” Reid said. “He didn’t, and that’s a decision he made.” Reid said he was confident in his own position for re-election. Polls have showed him trailing to any of three Republican challengers. Reid said the polls were misleading, and took a shot at the Las Vegas Sun, whom he has quibbled with repeatedly this year.

In the wake of widespread public backlash against the Democrats’ health care overhaul, Politico’s James Hohmann reports that Washington Democrats react to their abysmal poll numbers… by hiding.

Before Congress left town for the spring recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged rank-and-file Democrats to return home and tout the benefits of the landmark health care bill.  But instead of barnstorming their districts celebrating their historic accomplishment, some have been content to remain beneath the radar, reluctant to advertise their role in passing the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s domestic policy agenda.

Meanwhile, Obama’s IRS chief Doug Shulman confirmed the fears of many Americans – and contradicted the claims of Washington Democrats like Russ Feingold – when he admitted that individuals who do not purchase health insurance could be fined through the withholding or confiscation of tax refunds.  The Daily Caller’s Gautham Nagesh reports:

Individuals who don’t purchase health insurance may lose their tax refunds according to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. After acknowledging the recently passed health-care bill limits the agency’s options for enforcing the individual mandate, Shulman told reporters that the most likely way to penalize individuals that don’t comply is by reducing or confiscating their tax refunds… Many reports have claimed that enforcement of the individual mandate will be non-existent, but Shulman’s answers indicate differently. According to BusinessWeek, starting in 2015 Americans who don’t purchase insurance will be subject to a fine of $325 and that sum increases to $695 in 2016.

Hotline OnCall’s Reid Wilson reports on the economic impact for America’s job creators:

So far, companies have announced they will take at least $2.854B in one-time charges after health care legislation became law, thanks to a provision that will no longer allow companies to deduct subsidies it receives to provide seniors with prescription drug benefits.  In total, at least 15 companies have announced they will take charges to offset future costs of the health care measure. Phone giants AT&T and Verizon will be hit hardest; AT&T said last week it would take a $1B one-time charge, while Verizon announced yesterday it would set aside $970M…Manufacturing companies, including those that have laid off workers during the recession, will be hard-hit as well. John Deere, Boeing and Caterpillar all said they would take at least $100M in one-time charges.