From the Congressional Budget Office Director’s blog:
Health Costs and the Federal Budget

On Wednesday I spoke at a conference on the health care system hosted by the Institute of Medicine. My presentation dealt with health care costs and the federal budget. The central challenge is straightforward and stark: The rising costs of health care will put tremendous pressure on the federal budget during the next few decades and beyond.

In CBO’s judgment, the health legislation enacted earlier this year does not substantially diminish that pressure. In fact, CBO estimated that the health legislation will increase the federal budgetary commitment to health care (which CBO defines as the sum of net federal outlays for health programs and tax preferences for health care) by nearly $400 billion during the 2010-2019 period.

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