Small Biz Health Care Daily: Health Care and the Budget

On February 9, CNN.com reported: “‘And by the way, all of it is paid for,’ Obama said. ‘Not only is it deficit neutral, but the Congressional Budget Office, which is the bipartisan office that is the scorekeeper for how much things cost in Congress, says it is going to reduce the costs by $1 trillion.’ Obama called health care reform the ‘single best way to bring down our deficits.’ ‘Nobody has disputed that,’ he added. ‘Nobody can dispute the fact that if we don't tackle surging health care costs, then we can't control our budget,’ he said.”

In reality, the President is off base on each of these assertions. The entire health care reform effort being pushed by the President is focused on expanding the size of government. That means taxes will go up, and there are increased risks of higher budget deficits.

Meanwhile, ObamaCare will drive up health care costs due to, for example, increased government regulations and mandates, and government’s expanded role in funding health care expenditures.

This amounts to a recipe for higher budget and health care costs.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council