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CBO Confirms Dem Health Care Changes Will Increase Deficit By $89 Billion

By Philip Klein on 11.19.09 @ 2:07PM

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that House Democrats' changes to the health care system would add $89 billion to federal deficits over 10 years.

At the request of Rep. Paul Ryan, the CBO analyzed the budgetary effects when the health care legislation that passed in the House earlier this month is combined with the costs of the $210 billion so-called "doc fix" bill that would prevent scheduled cuts to physician payments under Medicare.

It found that the bill would add $89 billion to deficits from 2010 to 2019, and increase deficits even more over time.

On a longer-term basis (which it cautions is harder to project), "the combination of the two bills would increase the budget deficit in 2019 by $23 billion relative to current law. Those increments would grow during the following decade."

It's no surprise, then, that Democrats have split the measures into two bills, to create the appearance that the overall health care effort will be deficit reducing.