CBO Score of Finance Health Care Bill

It’s almost midnight here in Copenhagen and I’ve been a bit detached from the latest health care news, but the CBO came out with a score of the latest iteration of the Finance Committee health care bill and Igor Volsky made the following helpful summary table of what it says:

	Old CBO Score Of Baucus Bill	New CBO Score Of Baucus Bill
Costs	Reduce deficits: $49B/10yrs Net Cost: $500B/10yrs Gross cost: $774B/10yrs Spends on subsidies: $463B/10yrs	Reduce deficits: $81B/10yrs Net Cost: $518B/10yrs Gross cost: $829B/10yrs Spends on subsidies: $461B/10yrs
Insured	Uninsured reduced by: 29M Uninsured in 2019: 25M In Exchanges: 25M In Medicaid: 11M	Uninsured reduced by: 29M Uninsured in 2019: 25M In Exchanges: 25M In Medicaid: 14M
Revenue	Tax high cost plans: $215B/10yrs Mandate penalty: $20B/10yrs Free rider penalty: $27B/10yrs Indirect offsets: $12B/10yrs	Tax high cost plans: $201B/10yrs Mandate penalty: $4B/10yrs Free rider penalty: $23B/10yrs Indirect offsets: $83B/10yrs
Medicare and Medicaid	Total savings: 409B/10yrs Payment updates: $182B/10yrs Medicare Advantage: $123B/10yrs DISH Payments: $48B/10yrs Medicare Commission: $23B/10yrs	Total savings: 404B/10yrs Payment updates: $162B/10yrs Medicare Advantage: $117B/10yrs DISH Payments: $45B/10yrs Medicare Commission: $22B/10yrs

Igor comments:

Despite the positive CBO score and the bipartisan nature of the bill, it incorporates many conservative ideas, Republicans are still dismissing the legislation. In fact, during the last few minutes of mark-up, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the ranking member on the committee conceded that regardless of the CBO score, “There is a product here that all of the people on my side may not vote for.”

GOP obstructionism aside, the 2009 edition of comprehensive health reform has now progressed far, far beyond any previous efforts.