Baucus bill estimate trickery

So basically they got the CBO to score the health care bill on 10 years, even though it doesn't go into effect for the first 4 years, so naturally the costs are not that high. It's in the years after the first 10 that things go nuts. Are these people in Washington crazy? How can they do this?

As the CBO notes, his bill would cut Medicare payments to doctors by 25 percent in 2011, then hold them at that level perpetually. In other words, given inflation, Baucus proposes endless cuts in what the program pays physicians and others.

Assuming 3 percent annual inflation, by 2014 doctors' real incomes from Medicare payments would be cut by a third from 2010. By 2025, they'd be cut in half.

If Baucus' cuts actually go through, physicians' willingness to see Medicare patients would dwindle alongside their pay. But if the cuts don't actually get made, Baucus' plan would explode the federal deficit.