Thursday, July 26, 2012

Deficit Complicates Health Care Repeal Goal

Congressional Republicans’ goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act continues to run afoul of their efforts to reduce the deficit, at least according to the judgment of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO said Tuesday that President Barack Obama’s signature health care law will cut the deficit by $109 billion over the next decade and is $84 billion cheaper after a Supreme Court ruling in June gave states more flexibility to nix an expansion of Medicaid.
The estimate cheered Democrats, who have sparred repeatedly with Republicans over whether the law cuts the deficit.
“It just goes to show, our Republican colleagues keep talking about the deficit, but they’ve now voted 37 times to blow a hole in the deficit by over $100 billion,” House Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said.
As Van Hollen noted, Democrats pushed Republicans to wait for a CBO score on their latest repeal bill before passing it early this month — a request the GOP declined.

Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/issues/58_11/Deficit-Complicates-Repeal-Goal-216413-1.html?pos=hftxt

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