M$M keeps repeating the $849 billion as cost for Senate HCR bill. CBO said its $599 B over 10 yrs

[JohnWxy]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34017224/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

WASHINGTON - Setting up a historic year-end health care debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled long-awaited legislation Wednesday night to extend coverage to all but 6 percent of eligible Americans and bar private industry from denying insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions.

The Democrat's $849 billion measure is designed to remake the nation's health care system, relying on cuts in future Medicare spending to cover costs — as well as on higher payroll taxes for the well-to-do and a new levy on patients undergoing elective cosmetic surgery.

Here's the letter providing the CBO's estimate of the costs, savings and revenue changes in the Senate Democrats HCR bill:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10731/Reid_letter_11_18_09.pdf#page=2
]
Estimated Budgetary Impact

According to CBO and JCT’s assessment, enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $130 billion over the
2010–2019 period (see Table 1). In the subsequent decade, the collective effect of its
provisions would probably be small reductions in federal budget deficits if all of the
provisions continued to be fully implemented. Those estimates are subject to substantial
uncertainty.

The estimate includes a projected net cost of $599 billion over 10 years for the proposed
expansions in insurance coverage. That net cost itself reflects a gross total of $848 billion
in subsidies provided through the exchanges, increased net outlays for Medicaid and the
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and tax credits for small employers; those
costs are partly offset by $149 billion in revenues from the excise tax on high-premium
insurance plans and $100 billion in net savings from other sources. Over the 2010–2019
period, the net cost of the coverage expansions would be more than offset by the
combination of other spending changes that CBO estimates would save $491 billion and
other provisions that JCT and CBO estimate would increase federal revenues by
$238 billion.

In total, CBO and JCT estimate that the legislation would increase outlays by
$356 billion and increase revenues by $486 billion between 2010 and 2019 (see Table 2).
~~
~~
{Page 8}
Effects of Insurance Coverage Provisions

CBO and JCT estimate that provisions affecting health insurance coverage would result
in a net increase in federal deficits of $599 billion over fiscal years 2010 through 2019
(see Table 3). That estimate primarily reflects $374 billion in additional net federal
outlays for Medicaid and CHIP and $447 billion in federal subsidies that would be
provided to purchase coverage through the new insurance exchanges and related
spending.
(more)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


When M$M says it will cost $849 billion they are leaving out cost savings and revenue increases which make the actual NET COST over ten years to be $599 Billionis as estimated by CBO to be

[truedelphi]

1. If the Powers that Be don't like the cost of this bill, then let's have a real discussion abt costs.

Not the cost of care, but the inflation via Big Medicine, Big Pharma, Big Insurers.

Pills that cost 500 for evey nickel are sold to us for eleven bucks. Equipment that is installed and paid for by local donations from wealthy citizens charge off to us at 800 bucks to 1700 bucks for each single use.

Why?

Even costs that may seem benign to us consumers, such as Obama offering big bucks for making medical records available via computer, these are ridiculous costs. In California, Sutter in Marin said their "created program" for computerizing medical records involved $ 300,000 in expenses. (Which it probably did.)

But, then Sutter, why the heck are you not required by law to share this fully owned and self maintained software to be passed on to all the other Sutter Hospitals in California rather than allowing each hospital to charge off $ 300K ??????