Wednesday, October 20, 2010

About That "Cost" of ObamaCare? Look UP!!

Lewin Group is well-respected in their field (health policy).

A new study by the Lewin Group estimates that 28.6 million Americans will be eligible for a federal subsidy to purchase health insurance beginning in 2014 at a projected cost to tax payers in excess of $110 billion. This estimate is dramatically higher (578%) than the cost of these subsidies forecast by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) prior to the bill’s enactment into law.

Well, it's only 578%!

Hell, that's just a fraction of the Cost of Obama in his first two years.

And I'm not even counting the party-and-golf costs.

...The claim that the bill will reduce the deficit continues to be a leading selling point for proponents of reform. Just last month Families USA repeated this claim in a press release criticizing opponents of the legislation. But if the latest Lewin Group estimate is correct the initial 10-year cost of the bill will be significantly higher than what was forecast by the CBO, and would begin adding to the federal deficit as early as 2015.

Families USA paid for the Lewin study. And they have spin all ready to go:

When questioned about the discrepancy between the CBO and the Lewin Group projections, Jennifer Sullivan, a Senior Health Policy Analyst with Families USA, called this an “apples to oranges” comparison. According to Sullivan, the Families USA report “looks exclusively at how many people will be eligible for the new premium tax credits, whereas CBO estimates how many people will actually enroll.”

Uh-huh.

Lewin doesn't explain its numbers, and neither does CBO.

HT: VerumSerum

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