The first draft of a health care plan in Congress would increase the national deficit by $1 trillion over 10 years, while only insuring 16 million of the estimated 45 billion who currently have no coverage, according to a new report.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the legislation, proposed by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., would insure 39 million once fully implemented, but 23 million others would lose their employer-sponsored coverage or coverage from other private plans.
Democrats have been bracing for the figures, as one of the major problems with moving a health care bill has been its staggering cost.
Congressional leaders have tried to downplay the assessment because it does not take into account savings they claim would be generated through reform.
Budget office director Douglas W. Elmendorf said in a letter to Kennedy that the cost estimates are incomplete because the bill is in draft form and may be expanded to include more coverage, such as allowing more people to use Medicaid, for instance.
Obama acknowledged the CBO estimate in a speech he delivered before the American Medical Association in Chicago, but justified the cost.
“Failing to reform our health care system in a way that genuinely reduces cost growth will cost us trillions of dollars more in lost economic growth and lower wages,” Obama said.
Obama is proposing reducing tax deductions on charitable giving for upper-income families to help pay for the some of the cost as well as spending cuts in Medicare, senators are unlikely to embrace such a proposal, however and some are proposing taxing employee health benefits instead.
