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Brain -> $940 Billion Health Bill, Saves $130 billion over the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion over the Seco (3/18/2010 4:06:55 PM)
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$940 Billion Health Bill, Saves $130 billion over the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion over the Second Decade - Fox News
House Democrats said Thursday that their revamped health care reform bill would achieve the deficit reductions needed to push forward with a delicate plan to finalize the package, setting up a possible vote for Sunday.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the updated package would cost $940 billion over the next decade without adding to the deficit.
Sources said the estimate shows the bill would save $130 billion over the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion over the second decade. It is estimated to expand health insurance coverage to 32 million more Americans -- or 1 million more people than the original Senate bill.
The numbers from the Congressional Budget Office were highly anticipated, since a failure to control costs had the potential to spoil Democrats' plans for finishing their work on the bill. But House Democrats described the results as very positive.
Republicans still pledged to do whatever they can to defeat the bill and were unimpressed by the CBO numbers.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/18/fate-health-care-rests-looming-budget-office-estimate/
Kaiser Poll Majority Supports Health Care Reform When Informed of Its Key Elements
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/8042.cfm
In the latest poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Americans are evenly divided over the “health reform proposals being discussed in Congress,” a finding echoed in other recent national polls, with 42% in support, 41% in opposition, and 16% withholding judgment.
But the poll finds that even after a year of substantial media coverage of the health reform debate, many Americans remain unfamiliar with key elements of the major bills passed by the House and Senate. Majorities reported feeling more favorable toward the legislation after learning about key elements such as the availability of tax credits for small businesses, the creation of health insurance exchanges, the inability of insurers to deny people coverage because of pre-existing conditions and the move to close the Medicare drug benefit’s “doughnut hole.” Among the least known pieces of information about the legislation is that the Congressional Budget Office has said health care reform would reduce the deficit. Sixty percent expect the legislation to increase the deficit, but almost as many, 56 percent, said reducing “the federal deficit by at least $132 billion over 10 years” would make them more supportive of the health care proposal.
Newsweek Poll shows The More Americans Are Informed of the Key Components of Health Care Reform Legisation, the More They Support It
http://www.newsweek.com/media/84/1001_ftop_v2.pdf
The NEWSWEEK Poll asked respondents about eight health-care-reform provisions that Obama and many Democrats in Congress have generally supported. It found that the majority of Americans supported five of those provisions, three by particularly large margins. 81% agreed with the creation of a new insurance marketplace, the exchange, for individual subscribers to compare plans and buy insurance at a competitive rate. 76% thought health insurers should be required to cover anyone who applies, including those with preexisting conditions; and 75% agreed with requiring most businesses to offer health insurance to their employees, with incentives for small-business owners to do so.
After hearing key features of the legislation described, 48% supported the plan and 43% remained opposed.
The findings support the notion that Democrats have not done a good job of selling the package and that opponents have been successful in framing the debate. The more people know about the legislation, the more likely they are to support major components of it.
Inclusion of Public Option and Malpractice Reform, Elimination of Individual Mandate Would Strengthen Public Support to 57%
http://www.zogby.com/news/readnews.cfm?ID=1753
"According to the data, if the draft legislation were to include amendments calling for malpractice reform, the elimination of an individual mandate and the addition of a public option, our survey shows that support strengthens—to 57%," Casscells said.
The survey found that legislation including both malpractice reform and a public option yielded majority support, with 55 percent of respondents supporting it and only 41 percent opposing it. The elimination of the individual mandate combined with inclusion of a public option would garner support by 51 percent of respondents, and legislation that includes malpractice reform and the elimination of the individual mandate would fall just shy of a majority with 49 percent support.
The poll was created and commissioned by S. Ward Casscells, M.D., vice president of external affairs and public policy and the John Edward Tyson Distinguished Professor in Cardiology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Casscells was also a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health under Presidents Bush and Obama.
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