Now the CBO Says White House Health Care Plan Offers No Savings.
In a letter that he wrote to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said a White House plan touted as crucial for paying for health care reform is not likely to realize any savings.
From the Politico
For the second time this month, congressional budget analysts have dealt a blow to the Democrat's health reform efforts, this time by saying a plan touted by the White House as crucial to paying for the bill would actually save almost no money over 10 years.
A key House chairman and moderate House Democrats on Tuesday agreed to a White House-backed proposal that would give an outside panel the power to make cuts to government-financed health care programs. White House budget director Peter Orszag declared the plan "probably the most important piece that can be added" to the House's health care reform legislation.
But on Saturday, the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal to give an independent panel the power to keep Medicare spending in check would only save about $2 billion over 10 years- a drop in the bucket compared to the bill's $1 trillion price tag.
"In CBO's judgment, the probability is high that no savings would be realized ... but there is also a chance that substantial savings might be realized. Looking beyond the 10-year budget window, CBO expects that this proposal would generate larger but still modest savings on the same probabilistic basis," CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf wrote in a letter to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Saturday.
Democrats are now in damage control mode but how many times can they ignore the CBO's analysis and claim that the Obama health care plan will not increase the deficit when it is clear that this is yet another massive spending program?
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Thanks to Don Irvine's Blog on Accuracy In Media.org for this article.
