Posted by
James Biga on Thursday, September 17, 2009 4:08:09 PM
Max Baucus:
America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009
Funny how this one is only 223 pages. There was no specificity in HR3200 yet there was 1017 pages.
Democrats were quick to charge that the Congressional Budget Office had already claimed that the new "health Cre Reform" plan put out by Max Baucus would actually cut the budget deficit. When I finally was able to read the CBO's report here is what I found:
The CBO's Initial Report
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have completed a preliminary analysis of specifications for the Chairman’s mark for proposed health care legislation that were provided by the staff of the Senate Finance Committee. (CBO has not completed a review of the document entitled “Chairman’s Mark, America’s Healthy Future Act,” which was released by the Committee earlier today.)
This would seem to refute the political double speak and semantic game that has taken place so far today. The CBO has not reviewed the official release. All they reviewed was a few specifications. Here are some Caveats to the report:
First, while we understand that specifications provided to CBO were intended to be consistent with the Chairman’s published mark document, CBO and JCT have not reviewed that document to determine whether it conforms in all respects to those specifications.
Second, CBO has not yet completed its review of legislative language that would translate those specifications into law; review of that language could have a significant effect on the analysis. In particular, this analysis reflects an assumption that sufficient reporting and enforcement provisions will be included to implement the specified policies in an effective manner. More generally, as CBO’s and JCT’s understanding of the specifications improves, that could also affect our future estimates.
If it looks like a politician. sounds like a politician, and act's like a politician, then it's a politicians. Don't trust it.