Revised Estimates of Health Care Law Good News for White House
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ABC News(WASHINGTON) — In estimates that bode well for the Obama administration, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Monday that the Affordable Care Act will cover 25 million Americans over the next decade — an increase of one million from the initial projection.
Perhaps even better for the White House is that the CBO predicts the law will cost $104 billion less during that period than what the agency first predicted.
The reason for the revised forecast that works in favor of the law is because the CBO overestimated the cost of insurance premiums by 15 percent.
Since these costs are lower, the government will wind up paying out less in subsidies to assist lower-income people in affording medical coverage by about $300 per person.
With the deadline for finishing the first wave of enrollments due to end Tuesday, it’s possible that the number of people who signed up for the Affordable Care Act could reach eight million, about a million more than the Department of Health and Human Services was aiming for.
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