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CBO says health care reform bill would cut federal deficit
Published March 11, 2010 - BizTimes Daily
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President Barack Obama’s final push for national health care reform received a boost today when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its final cost estimates for the bill that the Senate approved with 60 votes in December.
The CBO estimates that the $875 billion Senate plan, which is the basis for Obama’s plan, would reduce the federal deficit by $118 billion over 10 years and would provide health care insurance for 31 million people who otherwise would be uninsured. The plan would reduce the deficit because its costs would be more than offset in savings from changes in Medicare and tax increases for wealthy citizens, including taxes on capital gains for upper-income earners.
Democrats are still waiting for a final cost estimate from the CBO for Obama’s plan.
Obama's plan would build on the Senate’s bill by expanding subsidies for health insurance premiums and closing the Medicare prescription coverage gap. The plan also would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and dropping coverage for people who become ill.
