CBO: Baucus Bill Covers 94% of Americans – and Reduces Deficit

CBO: Baucus Bill Covers 94% of Americans – and Reduces Deficit in Politics and Legislation

The Congressional Budget Office stated yesterday that the Baucus bill would extend health insurance to 94% of all eligible Americans. And reduce federal deficits by $81 billion over ten years and probably lead to "continued reductions in federal budget deficits" in the years after that.

You mean it’s healthy and tastes great? It’s sporty and gets good gas mileage? It’s something that the Republicans can finally get behind? Yes, yes and nope.

After their own review of the 27-page report, Republicans found issue with the tax increases, voicing further concern that insurers would pass new fees onto consumers.

Others wondered just how the bill got their miracle numbers? We loved this headline in the New York Times health care blog, Prescriptions: “Reduce the Deficit by Spending $829 Billion. Huh?” That’s was sort of our initial reaction, too. That Medicaid savings figured heavily into this was a given, but where was the rest from?

Here’s what we found in the CBO’s cost-analysis: "The added revenues and cost savings [from the bill] are projected to grow more rapidly than the cost of the coverage expansion… consequently, CBO expects that the proposal, if enacted, would reduce federal budget deficits (beyond 2019) relative to those projected under current law" by up to one-half of 1% of the national Gross Domestic Product.

According to the Washington Post, those spending reductions could mean hundreds of billions of dollars in savings. Now that’s impressive.

However, on the bill’s provision of co-ops instead of the so-called public health insurance option, the CBO were not so glowing. The report noted co-ops would not establish "a significant market presence in many areas.”

Hmm, a bit less impressive. But is it a necessary sacrifice?

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