CBO Score Could Help Pass Health Care Bill

A much-anticipated cost-benefit analysis of the compromise health care reform package facing a vote in Congress suggests that the costly bill will actually save money over time.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their report Thursday, revealing that while the reform will cost the federal government a whopping $940 billion over a ten-year period, it will actually increase revenue and cut other costs by even more. So much so, in fact, that the bill stands to help reduce as much as $138 billion of the federal deficit in that same ten-year period. In the following ten years, it will cut the deficit by as much as $1.2 trillion, says the CBO report.

The report also suggests the reform plan stands to increase Medicare's solvency by at least nine years and reduces the rate of its growth by 1.4 percent, while closing a gap in coverage of medication.

The legislation will cover 32 million Americans, or 95 percent of the legal population.

The package that the CBO analyzed includes several changes made in the name of compromise. Government subsidies for the uninsured to purchase insurance are increased and more funding is dedicated to community health centers. The excise tax on insurance premiums is scaled back so that it hits few families.

Democrats are of course seizing on the news like pit bulls on a steak bone. But who can blame them? According to various reports, they are just a few votes short of passing the bill and about 20 Democrats are still on the fence, including a contingency who have been insisting that the bill pay for itself. In the immediate aftermath of the CBO news, many Blue Dog Democrats have publicly announced their support of the bill.

Of course, not everyone is sold on the health care reform package or the CBO's analysis of it. Some suggest there could be more room for debate and that Thursday's CBO report won't be the last word.

The White House expects the House of Representatives to vote on the Senate's version of the health-care bill this weekend, the first step in the process of getting it to the president's desk. President Obama has delayed his trip to Indonesia and Australia by three days so that he and White House aides can work with Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to wrangle the 216 votes needed to ensure House passage before his scheduled departure on Sunday.

It looks like the bill that almost died, just might have new life.

Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives via Flickr.