The health reform bill released this week by House Democrats would increase rather than reduce public spending on healthcare, according to a preliminary analysis conducted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
As reported by The Washington Post, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee in a hearing on Thursday that the bill would not bend the long-term healthcare cost curve downward. "The changes we've looked at so far don't represent the fundamental change on the order of magnitude that would be necessary," Elmendorf reportedly said.
