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November 23, 2009 12:36 am

SUBSIDIES in the Senate health- care reform bill introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week will cost American taxpayers $196 billion per year in 2019--while the bill still leaves at least 24 million uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The bill requires that all residents of the United State buy health insurance and offers subsidies for families earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level--that's $88,200 for a family of four.

In fact, Congress may be vying with convicted financier Bernie Madoff for the title of Ponzi Schemer of the Year: The cost of the subsidies will be $0 in the next congressional election year (2010), and just $4 billion in the next presidential election year (2012), but will jump to $147 billion by 2016 and then $196 billion in 2019.

By then, most of the present-day members of Congress will be relaxing in retirement. Presumably, their successors will figure out how to pay for it all. Not to worry. We see how well that's worked with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.