What CBO Says About the Kennedy-Dodd Health Bill

Greg D'Angelo /

17 June 2009 - Washington, DC - Senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee begins mark-up consideration on the Kennedy Health Care bill. The bill which may cost over a trillion dollars is being debated by both sides of the Senate committee.

In February 1994, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that the Clinton health plan would add $74 billion to the deficit over the following six years. And that spelled the beginning of the end of the Clinton plan to have the federal government supervise the financing and delivery of health care.

Yesterday, CBO – an officially nonpartisan office whose director is appointed by the Democratic Congressional leadership – released its “preliminary” score of the Kennedy-Dodd bill. If enacted, the proposal would increase the federal budget deficit by $1 trillion over the next ten years. Over the next six years, the increase is $352 billion – almost five times the figure for the Clinton plan.

Déjà vu, anyone? (more…)