Today, we are reading about another brand of “new math” in describing how the Affordable Care Act will affect our nation’s Federal budget deficit. In another attempt to refight the battles of the past, one former Bush Administration official is wrongly claiming that some of the savings in the Affordable Care Act are “double-counted” and that the law actually increases the deficit. This claim is false.

According to the official Administration and Congressional scorekeepers, the Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit: its costs are more than fully paid for. The Office of Management and Budget and Congressional Budget Office project lower Federal budget deficits as a result of the law. The Congressional Budget Office is charged with assessing how legislation would affect the deficit. When the health care bill was passed by Congress, CBO wrote:

“CBO and JCT estimate that enacting both pieces of legislation—H.R. 3590 and the reconciliation proposal—would produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010–2019 period as result of changes in direct spending and revenues.”

When Congressional Republicans sought to repeal the law, CBO found that eliminating the law would increase the deficit. CBO wrote:

“The effect of H.R. 2 on federal deficits as a result of changes in direct spending and revenues is likely to be an increase in the vicinity of $230 billion, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes to CBO’s and JCT’s projections for that period.”

President Obama promised in 2009 that he would not sign a health care plan that “adds one dime to” to federal deficit, but a new study being criticized by the White House says that's exactly what ObamaCare will do.

“I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits -- either now or in the future,” the president said at a joint session of Congress. “I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period.

New study shows ObamaCare increases deficit, knocking down president's vow

Now a Medicare trustee say ObamaCare will increase the deficit by $530 Billion.

They can't make up their minds here.

I'm not convinced that anybody knows what they're talking about.

ObamaCare is a boondoggle.

But I bet they already know how much they can steal

President Obama’s health care legislation, contrary to promises made by proponents, will add up to $530 billion to federal deficits and boost government spending by at least $1.15 trillion over the next decade, according to a report authored by the GOP trustee for Medicare and Social Security on behalf of the Mercatus Center.
Medicare Trustee: Obamacare Will Increase Spending by Over $1 Trillion, Add $530 Billion in Deficits