COMMITTEE on WAYS and MEANS

Chairman Dave Camp

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CBO: Democrats' Trillion Dollar Health Care Overhaul Now Costs Nearly $1.8 Trillion
New Analysis by Independent Scorekeeper Highlights Budget Gimmicks Democrats Used to Pass Law
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
When the Democrats' health care bill was signed into law, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that it would increase spending on Medicaid and taxpayer-funded health insurance subsidies by $938 billion between 2010 and 2019.  However, as Republicans repeatedly pointed out, this actually hid the true costs of the health care law, because the Medicaid expansion and health insurance exchange subsidies are not scheduled to begin until 2014, five years into CBO's mandated 10-year budget window.

Today, CBO released updated information which predicts the Democrats' health care overhaul will actually cost nearly $1.8 trillion between 2012 and 2022, CBO's new budget window.  Once the Medicaid expansion and exchange subsidies are fully in place, the Democrats' health care law is certain to top more than $2 trillion.  Americans were right to be concerned that the country cannot afford the Democrats' risky experiment – it can't.
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