Funny story. The $940 billion price tag being touted by Democrats? The projection includes 2010, which we’re almost 1/3 done with already. Oh, and the costly benefits don’t actually kick-in until four years into the next ten years. So that price tag only reflects about, oh, five and a half years.

Like I said, funny story…

First, it includes 2010 as the initial year. As most people are well aware, 2010 has now been underway for some time. Therefore, the CBO would normally count 2011 as the first year of its analysis, just as it counted 2010 as the first year when analyzing the initial House health bill in the middle of 2009. But under strict instructions from Democratic leaders, and over strong objections from Republicans, the CBO dutifully scored 2010 as the first year of the latest version of Obamacare. If the clock were started in 2011, the first full year that the bill could possibly be in effect, the CBO says that the bill’s ten-year costs would be $1.2 trillion.

Now, that’s for the next ten years. But as we’re reminded next, benefits won’t kick-in until 2014. Which means four years of taxes before the program actually begins. What happens when we begin counting costs in 2014, when the program actually begins? Costs rise. Significantly.

But even that wouldn’t come close to reflecting the bill’s true costs. The CBO projects that over the next four years, less than two percent of the bill’s alleged “ten year” costs would hit: just $17 billion of the $940 billion in costs that the Democrats are claiming. In fact, the costs through President Obama’s entire presidency, should he be reelected, would be $336 billion. What would the president leave behind for his successor? According to the CBO, he would leave behind costs of $837 billion during his successor’s first term alone. If his successor were to serve a second term, he or she would inherit a cool $2.0 trillion in Obamacare costs — about six times its costs during Obama’s own tenure. This legislation is a ticking time-bomb.

Two. Trillion. Dollars.

More specifically, the CBO says the real first year period — from 2014 to 2023 — would cost American taxpayers over $2 trillion. And that’s if the government manages the program effectively. (Commence laughing…now.)

All of this while we simultaneously cut Medicare by hundreds of billions of dollars, provide taxpayer funds for abortion, get to work eliminating the private health sector, and rationing care.

Sound like fun yet?