The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Reports: CBO Says Senate Bill to Cost $849 bln

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Reports: CBO Says Senate Bill to Cost $849 bln

By Philip Klein on 11.18.09 @ 5:13PM

The Senate health care bill bill being presented by Harry Reid to Democrats today will cost $849 billion over 10 years, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, several news outlets have reported. According to the reports, the CBO has also estimated that the bill would reduce deficits by $127 billion and cover 31 million uninsured Americans.

I still haven't seen either the bill or the actual CBO report, and the devil is always in the details. In other health care bills, Democrats have used accounting tricks to disguise the true cost of legislation -- such as delaying the major spending provisions. So it's worth waiting to see what the actual CBO analysis says.

View all comments (4) | Leave a comment

tchristopher| 11.18.09 @ 6:10PM

If the bill still possesses the public option (which it does) Joseph Lieberman has promised to vote with Republicans to prevent a vote to end debate. I am curious what this modified bill possesses that brings it in at such a lower figure and how it attempts to appeal to moderates Snowe and Collins to see if they will come across the aisle to make Lieberman a non issue.

Dixie Pixie| 11.18.09 @ 6:22PM

Boston's Big Dig started out as a $2.8 billion dollar project and ended as a $22 billion dollar project.
That is the original cost estimate times a factor of 7.85

To find a rough estimate of the final cost of the Senate bill take the CBO numbers and multiply by a number between 4 and 8. Pick any number. Your guess will be more accurate than Majority Leader Reid numbers. So a more realistic cost would be somewhere between 3.396 to 6.792 trillion dollars.

The sad fact is the CBO numbers are at best a guesstimate at best and a flat out lie a worst. Take your pick.