A Little Perspective On the Deficit and Health Reform
Posted on June 10th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in Solutions that Work
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The New York Times has a piece about the budget deficit today, specifically who's fault it is and what President Obama's priorities do to it. Here's the key section:
About 7 percent [of the deficit created between 2001, when we had a surplus, and now] comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. Obama signed in February. And only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.
That's right. Health care reform would only account for a fraction of 3% of the budget deficit.
Health reform will cost something. Likely, it will be mostly paid for. However, it must be seen as an investment. Health care costs threaten to consume one in every five dollars we spend by 2017 if things keep going how they're going. We must get those costs down to save our economy, and that just may mean investing a little bit at the front end to realize the cost savings down the line.
So no more bellyaching about how much health reform is going to cost. It's an investment, and a drop in the deficit bucket at that.
While health care reform is completely necessary and is an investment in the future, the cost of health care reform will not be merely 3% of our current deficit.
The CBO's conservative estimate of what health care reform will cost over the next 10 years is $1 trillion. So, assuming that a health care reform bill is passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law, health care reform will account for 82.3% of the deficit over the next ten years.
So while health care reform is important, it's even more important to remember that it's going to cost a lot of money and to make sure that we get it right this time.
Here's the link to the page detailing the CBO's estimate
You're assuming none of the cost is paid for, which is an assumption that has no base in reality.