Paul Ryan wants ObamaCare’s new cost
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is requesting a new cost estimate for ObamaCare in light of a decision to delay the law’s employer mandate.
Ryan’s staff asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to reevaluate the law’s budget impact after the White House said Tuesday that larger employers will not be required to offer health insurance until 2015.
The Obama administration also announced Friday that ObamaCare’s new insurance exchanges will not have to verify income information provided by applicants for another year.
{mosads}A spokesman for the House Budget Committee confirmed that Ryan wants to understand how these developments impact the total cost of the Affordable Care Act.
“Chairman Ryan’s staff asked CBO to evaluate the impact of the administration’s recent decisions,” House Budget Committee spokesman William Allison told The Hill.
He added that the healthcare law is “unworkable” and that “workers and families should get relief” from its requirements.
ObamaCare’s total cost and impact on the national debt are major sources of debate in Washington.
The law’s framers designed it to reduce the budget deficit over time, and the CBO has suggested that repealing the law would increase deficit spending by more than $100 billion over 10 years.
Republicans argue these estimates are deeply flawed. Critics of the law predict that ObamaCare will add trillions to the deficit in the coming decades as enrollment outstrips the bill’s revenue-raising provisions.
Experts have suggested that delaying the employer mandate and the consumer income verification requirements could increase the law’s cost by making more people eligible for tax subsidies on the exchanges.
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