The ranking members of the House Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Budget committees today sent a letter to Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf asking for his office to analyze the cost of the House Democrats’ health care bill released on Friday.
“Before Congress changes health care as the American people know it, we must know the likely consequences of the House Democrat legislation, including the number of people who would lose access to their current insurance, number of jobs lost due to business taxes, number of uninsured people who would obtain coverage and extent of the cannibalization of employer coverage due to Medicaid expansion," wrote U.S. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee; Dave Camp, R-Mich., ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee; John Kline, R-Minn., ranking member of the Education and Labor Committee; and Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., ranking member of the Budget Committee. “As shown by your recent analysis of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions legislation, which would increase coverage by a net of 16 million people while costing over $1 trillion, health reform would cause dramatic changes in our country, not only for patients but also for our budget deficit.
“The Democrats’ legislation would alter health care as the American people know it by authorizing the federal government takeover of our country’s health care system while dramatically increasing the deficit," the lawmakers added.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
