The First State Estimate of the Cost of ObamaCare

The Governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen's (D, TN) office has released the first estimate of the cost of ObamaCare on his state:

Gov. Phil Bredesen warned Tuesday that pending federal health care legislation could cost Tennessee far more than the $735 million “best estimate” his administration previously has cited.

The $735 million would stretch over five years, but “in addition, there are huge unknowns for the states in this reform,” Gov. Bredesen said, estimating that those costs, if realized, could exceed another $3 billion from 2014 to 2019. . . . “I’m glad they’re trying to do it without increasing the federal deficit, that certainly is important,” said Gov. Bredesen, a Democrat who has been critical of the plan’s impact on states. “But to turn around and increase the state deficits as the way to handle it that does not seem a very appropriate way to do that.”

If this is just one medium sized state (Pop. 5,689,270), 17th in population, is estimating the cost to the state of $3,000,000,000.00 over a five year period. This far exceeds the estimated costs of the bill by the Senate Finance Committee, which said it would only cost $735,000,000.00 in the same period. So who to believe? The state which would have to foot the bill, or Congress which blythely passes unfunded legislation and foists the real costs to the states.