CBO now says repealing ObamaCare would reduce gross spending by $1.4 trillion over next decade

.
2/18/11, "CBO: Repealing ObamaCare to reduce gross spending by $1.4 trillion over next decade," American Spectator, Philip Klein

"Repealing the new national health care law would result in gross savings of $1.4 trillion, a new report by the Congressional Budget Office finds.

During the health care debate, Democrats were hard pressed to keep up with President Obama's promise that the legislation would cost "around $900 billion." So they employed the

• gimmick of delaying the major spending provisions until 2014
  

to make the legislation appear cheaper within the CBO's ten-year budget window,

• then 2010 through 2019.
  

At the time, I calculated that this tactic deferred 98 percent of the spending to the last six years of that period. Well, now two years have passed, and the

• CBO's budget window has shifted to 2012 through 2021 -- and volià --

the estimate that was $940 billion at the time of passage has suddenly gone up to $1.4 trillion. Keep in mind that this estimate still includes two years (2012 and 2013) prior to full implementation. Clearly, the actual 10-year cost of the major coverage provisions is going to be even higher --

• likely something closer to $1.8 trillion.

Of course, Democrats are going to focus on the CBO's other finding -- that repealing the health care law would add $210 billion to deficits over this period. But let's break that down. It's true that the

• law also includes $732 billion in spending cuts (primarily for Medicare).
  

Right now, we're engaged in a bitter debate over how to wring savings out of the federal budget so we can reduce the debt. Well, if the $732 billion in cuts had not been used to pay for a new entitlement,

• they'd still be available for deficit reduction. "

via Weasel Zippers