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Letter to the Honorable Max Baucus 1 (October 2009)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo9361 and id is 1 raw text is: CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director U.S. Congress Washington, DC 20515 October 30, 2009 Honorable Max Baucus Chairman Committee on Finance United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Mr. Chairman: Current proposals to reform the health care and health insurance systems would affect the federal budget and the nation's spending for health care in many ways, and those effects can be summarized using a variety of different measures. This letter aims to clarify the measures being used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in its analysis of such proposals-in particular, the effects of proposals on federal budget deficits and on the magnitude of the federal budgetary commitment to health care. As concrete examples, the letter discusses the preliminary analyses recently completed by CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) of the proposal put forward by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, as amended by the committee, and of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which was introduced yesterday in the House of Representatives.' The effects of health care reform proposals on the federal budget and national spending for health care are only some of the criteria that might be used in evaluating such proposals. Their impact on the market for health insurance, sources of insurance coverage, the cost of insurance before and after accounting for subsidies, the number of people with health insurance, the organization and delivery of health care, the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care, and many other factors are likely to weigh on policymakers as they make decisions about proposals. Although CBO has analyzed a number of those issues, this letter-in response to questions the agency has received- addresses only the impact on the federal budget. 1 See Congressional Budget Office, letter to the Honorable Max Baucus providing a preliminary analysis of the Chairman's mark for the America's Healthy Future Act, as amended (October 7, 2009), and letter to the Honorable Charles B. Rangel providing a preliminary analysis of H.R. 3962 (October 29, 2009).

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