Says who? Democratic chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, George Miller, that’s who.
Here is the chairman’s press release, issued this morning at 10 a.m., about CBO’s projection about health-care reform:
Washington, D.C. — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released estimates this evening confirming for the first time that H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, is deficit neutral over the 10-year budget window – and even produces a $6 billion surplus. CBO estimated more than $550 billion in gross Medicare and Medicaid savings. More importantly, the bill includes a comprehensive array of delivery reforms to set the stage for lowering the future growth in health care costs.
How does his press release compare to the actual CBO’s projections? Here, there is no mention of the revenue neutrality of the bill. In fact, it shows the bill adding to the deficit.
According to CBO’s and JCT’s assessment, enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period. That estimate reflects a projected 10-year cost of the bill’s insurance coverage provisions of $1,042 billion, partly offset by net spending changes that CBO estimates would save $219 billion over the same period, and by revenue provisions that JCT estimates would increase federal revenues by about $583 billion over those 10 years.
Could the chairman be presenting fake data? Donald Marron over at dmarron.com has the answer, and backs it up with great charts and good explanations. Check it out here.