Hillarysworld

Kaiser Health News
3/18/10
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CBO Finds Heath Overhaul Will Cost $940 Billion Over 10 Years But Trim Deficit"

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., says the Congressional Budget Office has finished its analysis of the latest Democratic health overhaul bill, Politico is reporting. According to Hoyer, the plan will cost $940 billion over 10 years and will trim the federal deficit by $130 billion in the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years (Budoff Brown, 3/18).

The Washington Post: Hoyer said "the legislation is 'the largest deficit-reduction bill that members will have a chance to vote on' in most of their congressional careers, a key enticement to a bloc of undecided Democrats who have fears that the legislation would run up the mounting federal deficit. ... Exuding increasing confidence, Hoyer said Democratic leaders do not need President Obama to curtail his planned Sunday morning departure for a nearly weeklong trip to Southeast Asia, adding that Obama's one-on-one lobbying campaign in recent days and weeks is working and the president can get in touch with any last-minute holdouts via phone on Air Force One. ... If the legislation is approved Sunday, it will be shipped to an awaiting jet that will fly it across the Pacific Ocean so that Obama can sign it, most likely in Indonesia, making the Senate-approved version the law of the land" (Kane, 3/18).

The Wall Street Journal: "People close to the situation said House leaders Wednesday appeared about 10 votes shy of the 216 needed to pass the legislation, which could be voted on this weekend. The tension was exacerbated by controversy in Washington over a possible tactic, known as "deeming," that Democrats are considering using to speed the vote. Democrats moved Wednesday to raise additional revenue from a proposed tax on high-value plans. Among other things, Democratic leaders agreed to alter how the tax's threshold would change over time, effectively encompassing more people in the second decade of the program than it would have previously. Additional steps were taken to pare the cost, individuals familiar with the matter said, with the goal of keeping the 10-year cost at $950 billion" (Hitt and Adamy, 3/18).

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room: According to today's estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, "[t]he bill is more expensive than the healthcare measures passed by both the House and the Senate last year, though the CBO said that the current bill would make larger reductions in the deficit." The Hill also reports that "[t]he release of the CBO score sets into motion a 72-hour endgame on healthcare that could mean a vote in the House on the package as early as Sunday morning" (O'Brien, 3/18).

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