Drink up, lefties. You want, you pay for it:

Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation’s health-care system.
The taxes would pay for only a fraction of the cost to expand health-insurance coverage to all Americans and would face strong opposition from the beverage industry. They also could spark a backlash from consumers who would have to pay several cents more for a soft drink.
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is set to hear proposals from about a dozen experts about how to pay for the comprehensive health-care overhaul that President Barack Obama wants to enact this year. Early estimates put the cost of the plan at around $1.2 trillion. The administration has so far only earmarked funds for about half of that amount.

This should help cut out a lot of empty calories in the American diet but I expect to see a lot more chubby lefties in the future, right?
But the tax is just a drop in the bucket when you consider how expensive the program is going to be:

The Congressional Budget Office, which is providing lawmakers with cost estimates for each potential change in the health overhaul, included the option in a broad report on health-system financing in December. The office estimated that adding a tax of three cents per 12-ounce serving to these types of sweetened drinks would generate $24 billion over the next four years. So far, lawmakers have not indicated how big a tax they are considering.

And then there’s this:

The White House, meanwhile, is pulling together private health groups to identify cost savings that will help fund the health overhaul. Mr. Obama on Monday held a White House meeting with groups that represent doctors, hospitals, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and medical-device makers. They pledged to help restrain cost increases in the health-care system in an effort to save $2 trillion over the next decade.

You guys realize that means rationing, right? There is no way they can cut costs without cutting services. It’s too bad people expect to get a national program without realizing how much it will impact the quality of their care. People don’t like their health care because they have to fight with them to get their treatments and tests covered (try getting an MRI or a CATSCAN — I almost didn’t get my CATSCAN before my surgery because of all the red tape) but imagine adding the federal government to the process and it will be even worse (since they are looking to cut costs we’ll be denied even more treatments and tests ).