The final bill is reviewed. I’ll have more when the release the actual analysis:
Comprehensive health care reform will cost the federal government $940 billion over a ten-year period, but will increase revenue and cut other costs by a greater amount, leading to a reduction of $130 billion in the federal deficit over the same period, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, a Democratic source tells HuffPost. It will cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years.
The source said it also extends Medicare’s solvency by at least 9 years and reduces the rate of its growth by 1.4 percent, while closing the doughnut hole for seniors, meaning there will no longer be a gap in coverage of medication. The CBO also estimated it would extend coverage to 32 million additional people.
Well, it’s more expensive than the other bills, but it also has larger offsets. That means it’s bringing in more money (taxes) and making more cuts (savings). These make it deficit reducing. And, for those of you who still buy into the “more years of taxes than benefits”, it’s WAY more deficit reducing in the second decade, when there are 10 years of taxes and 10 years of benefits.
It’s also going to help trim Medicare (which fiscal conservatives would love in a rational world), close the donut hole (which seniors would love in a rational world), and cover 32 million more people (which liberals would love in a rational world).
Legislation is about compromise. This isn’t the bill I would write if I were king of the world. But that’s not the way the world works. This is better than what we’ve got.
So pass the bill.
