Posted by
Billy on Thursday, December 24, 2009 11:42:29 AM
The Congressional Budget Office challenged claims by health-care overhaul
proponents that Medicare savings in Senate legislation would help finance
expanded coverage and postpone the bankruptcy of the medical program for the
elderly.
Nor could those savings be used to extend the solvency of Medicare, set to
run out of money in 2017, the budget office said in a letter to Senate
Republicans.
“What we’ve seen is a colossal manipulation” by Democrats “of the accounting
scores of CBO” and the independent actuary of the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid, said Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the Republican who requested the analysis from
CBO. He called the letter “a potential game-changer.”
The estimated Medicare savings in the legislation overstate “the improvement
in the government’s fiscal position,” the CBO said in the letter.
“The true increase in the ability to pay for future Medicare benefits or
other programs would be a good deal smaller,” the budget office said.
(The truth is you can't add more people to a program and say you are going to spend less money and save tax payers money. Read more on this issue Budget
Office Challenges Medicare Savings.)