CBO Puts House Health Bill Total Cost At $1.055 Trillion

Nasdaq.com ^ | October 29, 2009 | By Martin Vaughan

[Jet Jaguar]

The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday a U.S. House health-care system re-write would extend health insurance to 96% of the nonelderly U.S. population by 2019, and spend $1.055 trillion to do so.

Penalties imposed on individuals who did not purchase insurance, and employers who did not offer coverage to their workers, would raise $161 billion over that time-frame. That brings the net cost of the bill to $894 billion through 2019, CBO said.

House Democrats have seized on that net cost figure to claim that their bill is below President Barack Obama's upper limit which he set for health-care legislation of $900 billion.

The $1.055 trillion estimate also does not include $245 billion needed to stop Medicare payments to doctors from decreasing, which the House plans to address through separate legislation introduced Thursday.

The costs of the bill are fully offset by cuts to existing spending programs-- including the Medicare Advantage and other programs--saving $426 billion through 2019, and by tax increases raising $572 billion over that time, CBO said. In fact, the combined impact of provisions in the bill would be a net deficit reduction of $104 billion in the next decade, according to CBO.

CBO also said the House bill would not add to the deficit in the first decade beyond 2019--a key condition for support from fiscally conservative House Democrats.

CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, in a Thursday letter to House Democratic Chairmen, cautioned that his estimates are preliminary and "subject to substantial uncertainty."

House leaders capped weeks of internal negotiations among Democrats today by unveiling the sweeping legislation. They aim to bring the bill to a vote by the full House by the end of next week.

[concerned about politics]

Nonelderly? Obama and Co. are throwing grandma and grandpa under the bus.

The baby boomer vote is on it's way out anyway. The dems are going to replace their vote with the younger, illegal vote (amnesty).
This is not about health care. It's about their own power and privilege - always.

[goldstategop]

Of course. Its all about consolidating their power. On Election Day, voters can send Congress a message to lay off our wallets and our lives!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

[concerned about politics]

Of course. Its all about consolidating their power.

Yep. This health care bill is red meat for the illegals, so when the amnesty bill is passed, the dems will have the illegal vote locked up.
The baby boomer vote was huge for them. That vote has to be replaced somehow. The illegals already get welfare, so the only thing left is health care. It's a vote sealer at the tax payers expence.

[Prince of Space]

So they're counting on people to actually pay a fine if they don't have insurance. Well in my case, they'd be waiting a long time. Hope they take noncompliance into account....not to mention the escalating number of businesses either slashing their workforce or just folding with these onerous tax burdens put on them by our new socialist government.

Mrs. Prince of Space

[Mr Rogers]

I wish folks would emphasize that DEMOCRATS want to cut $500 Billion from Medicare...