House health care legislation is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $1 trillion over 10 years. So is the Senate HELP Committee’s bill. The Senate Finance Committee’s bill, by contrast, will likely cost around $900 billion–and it looks like President Obama’s siding with Baucus et al.
“Add it all up, and the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over ten years – less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration,” Obama says. “Most of these costs will be paid for with money already being spent – but spent badly – in the existing health care system. The plan will not add to our deficit. The middle-class will realize greater security, not higher taxes. And if we are able to slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of one percent each year, it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.”
Some experts are concerned that a bill that costs $900 billion will not be enough to provide sufficient subsidies to middle class, uninsured consumers to purchase health care. But it appears to be the consensus price tag in Washington.
