The Revenue Impact of the Baucus Plan

October 7, 2009

Download CBOJCT_on_Baucus_Plan

The Congressional Budget Office/Joint Tax Committee score of the Baucus health care plan is out. (CBO’s site is getting hefty traffic, so we’ve uploaded it here as well.)

SPENDING INCREASES & TAX CREDITS (over 10 years)

Additional outlays for Medicare and CHIP

$345 billion

Federal Subsidies for Insurance Purchases

$461 billion

Tax Credit for Employers Offering Health Insurance

$23 billion

TOTAL

$829 billion

REVENUE INCREASES (over 10 years)

Excise Tax on High-Premium Insurance Plans

$201 billion

Penalty Payments by Uninsured Individuals

$4 billion

Penalty Payments by Employers whose workers receive subsidies

$23 billion

Other

$83 billion

TOTAL

$311 billion

SPENDING REDUCTIONS (over 10 years)

Reductions in Medicare Payment Rates

$162 billion

Medicare Advantage Payments Set at Average Bid

$117 billion

Reductions in Medicare and Medicaid Hospital Payments

$45 billion

Other Program Savings

$80 billion

TOTAL

$404 billion

REVENUE INCREASES ELSEWHERE (over 10 years)

Other

$196 billion

NET CHANGE TO 10-YEAR DEFICIT: -$81 billion

As the non-economist, I should note that when Medicare was passed in 1965, it was estimated to to cost $3 billion in 1990, the equivalent of $12 billion after adjusting for inflation. The actual cost in 1990 was $98 billion. And my earlier blog post on the argument that entitlement programs paying for themselves is worth relinking to.

I’d also like to know what that “other” $196 billion in increased revenues are, since that’s the difference between this thing increasing the deficit or not.

Note: Corrected after posting to note that the plan is projected to reduce the deficit, not increase it.


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A tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities.

An excise tax is a tax imposed on a specific good or activity. Excise taxes are commonly levied on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, soda, gasoline, insurance premiums, amusement activities, and betting, and typically make up a relatively small and volatile portion of state and local and, to a lesser extent, federal tax collections.

A tax credit is a provision that reduces a taxpayer’s final tax bill, dollar-for-dollar. A tax credit differs from deductions and exemptions, which reduce taxable income, rather than the taxpayer’s tax bill directly.