Report Says House Bill Will Raise Health Expenditures

A report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requested by House Republicans indicates that total health care expenditures would rise by $289 billion over the next ten years. The bill's plan to cut $500 billion from Medicare coverage would hurt many seniors and would cause some hospitals to stop taking Medicare patients altogether.

However, the Washington Post points to such positive conclusions of the report as the following:

Overall national spending on health care would increase by a little more than 1 percent over the next decade, even though millions of additional people would gain insurance. Out-of-pocket spending would decline more than $200 billion by 2019, with the government picking up much of that. The Medicare savings, if they materialized, would extend the life of that program by five years, meaning it would not begin to require cash infusions until 2022.

Igor Volsky, writing for the Wonk Room blog observes that

The CMS report confirms that the House health care bill is a fairly modest proposal that expands access to insurance and builds on what works in the current system. Now, honest lawmakers — who believe in health care reform — must ensure that reform also lowers costs for families and reduces long term health care spending. Rather than complain about a fictitious government takeover of health care and rationing care to seniors, Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and other ‘moderate’ lawmakers should use this report to insert stringent cost-control mechanisms into the final bill.