5.5% is not amazing, but it isn't trivial either.  5.5% of the salary of an average American is $2,000.  I think most people would be pleased to save $2,000 a year.

And while of course this is pretty speculative, CBO estimates that the bill will save $600 billion in the second 10 years.  That's 25% savings.

EveningStarNM - the arguments you make on these boards seem to come from a conclusion.  You've made up your mind and you make whatever arguments you think of to support that conclusion.

But maybe you should be open to the possibility that you might be wrong.  If the facts don't support your initial conclusion, maybe you should change your conclusion?  Everyone feels right, even when they're actually wrong.  Maybe I'm the wrong one here, but you need to see that most of your arguments are pretty unconvincing as matters of empirical fact.