You don’t say
(Roll Call) For Democratic lawmakers who were hesitant to sign onto the sweeping 2010 health care law, one of the most powerful selling points was that the Affordable Care Act would actually reduce the federal budget deficit, despite the additional costs of extending health insurance coverage to the uninsured.
Four years after enactment of what is widely viewed as President Barack Obama’s key legislative achievement, however, it’s unclear whether the health care law is still on track to reduce the deficit or whether it may actually end up adding to the federal debt. In fact, the answer to that question has become something of a mystery.
In its latest report on the law, the Congressional Budget Office said it is no longer possible to assess the overall fiscal impact of the law. That conclusion came as a surprise to some fiscal experts in Washington and is drawing concern. And without a clear picture of the law’s overall financing, it could make it politically easier to continue delaying pieces of it, including revenue raisers, because any resulting cost increases might be hidden.
Hidden costs? Shocking!
(The Hill) It means that measuring the healthcare law’s effect on the budget deficit will be much more difficult, if not impossible. The CBO is normally the best source of information on bills’ projected fiscal effects. (snip)
The law also includes a variety of taxes and fees to raise revenue, some of which the CBO suggested it could no longer analyze.
In other words, this is messing with the economy so much that the CBO can’t analyze it. Or won’t. Or been told not too.
