Will a Healthcare Reform Bill Be Deficit Neutral?

Is the proposed bill really as cost-effective as the Congressional Budget Office reports?

By U.S. News Staff

October 8, 2009 RSS Feed Print

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office announced that the proposed healthcare bill backed by Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus will meet President Obama's cost requirements, not adding "one dime to the deficit." The bill, which according to budget office analysis will cost $829 billion to implement, would cover 29 million uninsured Americans by 2019. The New York Times reports that Republicans who oppose the bill are skeptical of the numbers and worry that the bill won't be worth the potential costs. What do you think? How would the proposed plan affect the national deficit? Take our poll and post your thoughts below.

Will the New Healthcare Bill Be Deficit Neutral?



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Previously: Should Tax Incentives Be Given to Companies That Create Jobs?

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Take a look to what happening to the stimulus bill, the White House said the deficit won't hit 1.6 trillion. Guess what? It is currently 2 Trillion dollars. Whatever the government or Congress say are lies. Currently, I don't have health care and I can't go to hospital if God Forbids something happens to me. I want to have health care or Health Care Reform, but the government should not overtax individuals for that. There's nothing free in this country if it's free for 10 years, get ready to pay for the interest and the principal for that 10 years period. I want health care reform at the same time, I don't want the government charges or takes 40% of my paychecks to pay for this health care. They want to have the health care reform, which is reasonable to me, but they have to tell the truth to the American people. How much money it will cost and how much taxes they are going to charge a poor guy like to cover those expenses. They have to come clean with all these details. Senator Obama said during his campaigns that middle class people won't see a dime takes off from their paychechs if they make less than $250,000. Right now, I don't think this word sounds well in his ear with his health care overhaul proposal. If they are going to have this reform, I hope they have it right and hopefully it won't bankrupt the country.

Roger

Rog of NJ 2:41PM October 10, 2009

While a lot of democrats are cheering the CBO scoring of the Senate finance bill, they all ignore the "prelimary estimate" cautions Mr. Elmdorf included. He pointed stated that the Baucus bill can't be fully scored without legislative language, which is currently missing.

The truth is, our government is lousy at estimating costs of programs. Take any number they give you and triple it. Then hope you weren't too optomistic.

Bob in Zion of IL 5:37AM October 09, 2009

Previously, the health care bills were finalized before scoring by the CBO but now the Democrats have submitted a conceptual bill for just an estimate of cost from the CBO. Having no hard numbers to go on and an optimistic concept from the Democrats, the CBO was willing to give a non-binding estimate of the cost of the conceptual bill in a letter. This is a far cry from an analysis of a finalized bill. This is why the Democrats want to speed it through the Senate and House to the president's desk. If they do this, God help them, for the wrath of the American people will come down on their head in 2010. Americans don't want nor will tolerate a fascist government and these are the actions of NAZI's, Stalin's USSR, or Pol Pot to quote Senator Dick Durbin.

Harry Reid, think of what you are doing and what the consequences might be. Stop and let the public scrutinize and the CBO analyze the finalized bill for 72 hours before you vote. Don't believe your internal polls when you can see the resistance to the bill and see the objective polls that are against the bill.

W Howard Baker of KY 6:44PM October 08, 2009

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