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.
