Expanding Medicaid Saves Money — At a Steep Price

The Congressional Budget Office last week made a bit of news when it released cost estimates on two different health reform packages being considered by House Democrats, who are trying to bring the cost of their legislation down below $900 billion over 10 years. But, as The Washington More…

CBO: Tort Reform Would Cut Health Spending by 0.5%

Enacting a comprehensive set of medical malpractice reforms would reduce nationwide health care spending by 0.5* percent, according to a report released today by the Congressional Budget Office. Over 10 years, the changes would reduce federal deficits by $54 billion.

Roughly 0.2 percent of the savings would come as a More…

Grassley: CBO Score Being Wrongly Played

The Democrats pushing for comprehensive health care reform this year got a boost yesterday when the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate Finance Committee’s $829 billion proposal would save the government $81 billion over 10 years. But don’t tell Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that’s good news. More…

McConnell: CBO Score Is Much Ado About Nothing

Even as Senate Finance Committee Democrats are patting themselves on the back over a damn fine cost estimate for their enormous health reform proposal, Republican leaders are quick to remind us that it’s a far different bill than the rest of the chamber will be voting on. Senate More…

CBO: Co-ops ‘Unlikely’ to Be Effective

To the dismay of many liberal lawmakers, the Senate Finance Committee famously excluded a public option from its health reform bill, instead proposing the creation of state-based health care cooperatives in hopes of bringing insurance costs down.

For the second time, the Congressional Budget Office has determined that More…

CBO Says Finance Health Reform Bill Will Save $81 Billion Over a Decade

The Senate Finance Committee’s health reform bill will save the federal government $81 billion over the next 10 years, according to the much-anticipated Congressional Budget Office estimate released this afternoon. CBO found that subsidizing the coverage expansion will cost $518 billion** over a decade, partly offset by taxing high-cost More…

Finance Panel Delays Health Reform Vote

So says The Associated Press, reporting this afternoon that the absence of an estimated cost from the Congressional Budget Office means that the Senate Finance Committee won’t get around to voting on its health care reform bill until Wednesday at the earliest.

Last week, Republicans on the panel, More…

Dems to Address Cost of Health Care Reform Bill

Democratic leaders in the House are holding a press conference shortly on their sweeping $1.2 trillion proposal to revamp the nation’s health care system. As Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) might say: They have some ‘splainin’ to do.

That’s because of damning testimony given yesterday by Douglas Elmendorf, director More…

Baucus: Health Care Bill Will Cost Less Than $1 Trillion

Just out of the office of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) comes news that the cost of the health reform bill the Senate Finance Committee chairman is working on has fallen below $1 trillion. From Baucus’ statement:

We have options the Congressional Budget Office tells us would cost under $1 trillion

More…

A Dismal Review of the Dems’ Health Reform Plans

Just hours after President Obama reiterated his plans for overhauling the nation’s health care system to trim costs and cover the 46 million people estimated to lack insurance, the Congressional Budget Office came out with a grim analysis of one major Democratic proposal designed with the same goals in More…