CBO Deals Another Blow to Obamacare

Meredith Jessup | July 27, 2009 1:17 PM

Surprise, surprise. For the second time this month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has debunked Obama administration assertions that their health care overhaul plan would be a good deal for American taxpayers. In an analysis of a plan the White House has touted as crucial to paying for its proposed health care policy, the CBO has found that the plan would actually save no money over the next decade:

...the proposal to give an independent panel the power to keep Medicare spending in check would only save about $2 billion over 10 years - a drop in the bucket compared to the bill's $1 trillion price tag.

White House budget director Peter Orszag has referred to this specific provision as "probably the most important piece that can be added" to the House legislation. However, following the CBO's latest announcement over the weekend, Orszag now says, "The point of the proposal, however, was never to generate savings over the next decade. ... Instead, the goal is to provide a mechanism for improving quality of care for beneficiaries and reducing costs over the long term."