ObamaCare Repeal Would Tack $230B Onto Deficit: CBO

Boehner slams claim over 'double-counting'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 7, 2011 6:38 AM CST
ObamaCare Repeal Would Tack $230B Onto Deficit: CBO
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, right, accompanied by Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va., gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republicans have hit a potential roadblock in their quest to dump health care reform: the price. Repeal would add $230 billion to the deficit by 2021, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Reform itself, the CBO has said, would reduce the deficit by $143 billion over a decade. Moreover, the CBO finds, repeal would cut the number of Americans with health insurance in 2019 by some 32 million, Politico reports.

Repeal would also drive up prices for people who bought insurance in the individual market, the analysis says. But the new House speaker, who was delivered a copy of the report yesterday, disagrees, notes the New York Times. "CBO can only provide a score based on the assumptions that are given to them," says Boehner. "And if you go back and look at the health care bill and the assumptions that were given to them, you see all of the double-counting that went on."
(More health care reform stories.)

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