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</p>In anticipation of the February 25th health care summit with members of Congress, the President released his <ahref="http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting">proposal for pricey, government-run health care.* The White House estimates the cost of the proposal to be $950 billion over a decade, decreasing the federal deficit.* However, health policy expert James Capretta, a former senior official of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), *shows in <ahref="http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2816.cfm">a recent paper that this is not only inaccurate, but far from reality.* <ahref="http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2816.cfm">Caprettas research shows that ten full years of implementation of the Presidents proposal would cost closer to $2.5 trillion, with the strong likelihood of far exceeding this amount.* Heres how:
- The Presidents proposal ignores doc fix legislation, which would cost roughly $200 billion over ten years.* As Capretta notes, it is ironic that the President does not account for this provision, but includes several other Medicare provisions in his proposal.
- Non-coverage spending would add about $90 billion to the cost of the bill.
- Cost estimates for the Presidents plan should apply to the ten year window from 2011 to 2020not to 2019.* This would add approximately $200 billion more to the cost of the bill.<spanid="more-27316"></span>
- The Presidents plan includes the CLASS Act, premiums from which are double-counted.* Fixing this adds $72 billion to the cost of the bill.
- The true ten year window of the bill, including spending reductions, new revenues, and new spending, is 2014 to 2023.* During this period, the Senate bill would cost $2.3 trillion.* Adding the Presidents additional provisions, at $75 billion, as well as the aforementioned provisions, arrives at a grand total of over $2.5 billion.
According to Capretta, the newly created entitlement programs created by the bill are likely to expand over time to include more Americans.* In addition, spending cuts to current entitlement programs have little chance of coming to fruition, as these cuts would put several institutions in financial trouble.* **<ahref="http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2816.cfm">Caprettas full analysis can be read here.