The non-partisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office) released it’s report on the Senate Democrats’ version of a health-care reform bill yesterday that should better appeal to “blue-dog” Democrats and moderate Republicans than the House version of the bill did.  Some fairly stunning statistics on the bill were released yesterday, in terms of what we hear day in and day out from the mainstream media.  Our biggest shock was hearing that this bill would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next 10 years.  So many people weary of the federal deficit as of now have been worried about the increase in spending and what it means in terms of national debt (we don’t blame them!); don’t just latch onto what you read on the Internet though, this bill would decrease our deficit by over a hundred billion bucks (and maybe $500 billion in the following 10 years).  The bill would cost around $850 billion, which is significantly less than the House bill, which clocks in around $1.2 trillion (God, it’s hard to even wrap one’s head around these numbers).  It would expand coverage to 94% of Americans — that’s 31 million more people — through a government option.  One of the more glossed-over facets of the bill:  starting in 2010, insurers would be barred from dropping people from coverage, and a ban on excluding people for pre-existing conditions begins in 2014.  Medicare taxes would increase on individuals making $200,000/year or more; for couples making $250,000/year or more the tax would increase by half a percentage point (from 1.45%/cent to 1.95%/cent).  These are the  undoctored facts of the bill.  They’re laid out nicely — in their entirety — HERE.

-D