Orszag: Healthcare law doesn't include more spending than previously reported

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/appropriations/97585-orszag-healthcare-law-doesnt-include-more-spending

Orszag: Healthcare law doesn't include more spending than previously reported
By Vicki Needham - 05/12/10 04:10 PM ET


The new healthcare law doesn't include more spending and less deficit reduction than previously reported, an Obama administration official said Wednesday.

Instead, a letter released by the Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday "simply updates" the calculation of the size of discretionary authorizations included in the legislation, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said today in his blog.

Opponents of the healthcare law have touted the updated estimate as a we-told-you-so increase of $115 billion in spending, which Orszag said is wrong to conclude. He reiterated that the law will reduce deficits by more than $100 billion this decade and more than $1 trillion in the following 10 years, writing that it's the "largest deficit reduction package enacted in over a decade according to CBO."

He outlined why the conclusions have been drawn that the CBO letter reflects more spending.


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http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/appropriations/97585-orszag-healthcare-law-doesnt-include-more-spending

Gee I thought they were non-partisan. Must be some hacks left over from the Bush regime.

The problem is simple.

There are two kinds of spending: That mandated in the law and that listed as possible or optional.

The numbered everybody tossed around, whether reasonable and accurate or not (my money's on "not") were the mandated expenditures. But since "optional" spending wasn't mandated--that entire "by definition" thang--it wasn't in the budget numbers.

"Optional," of course, includes "the very, very likely yet not mandatory." The recent CBO deals with optional spending.

And the savings remains bigger than the new spending. Thanks for the clarity, Mr. Orszag... The media Apocalypse from this was acting like everything was just flipped on its head.