CMS Actuary Report Provides Alternative Estimates for Health Reform - April 28, 2010

On April 22, Richard Foster of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary, released his office’s estimates of coverage and financial effects of the new health reform law. The most controversial news in the Actuary’s estimate was that national health care spending would increase by $311 billion, as compared to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the health reform legislation would decrease the deficit by $143 billion over ten years. There are a number of differences in the two estimates including: that the CBO only estimates the impact on the federal budget, while the Actuary’s estimate is all health spending in the nation; they use two different baselines; and the coverage estimates differ. The report, written at the request of congressional Republicans, only represents the views of the Office of the Actuary, and does not reflect official estimates by Health and Human Services or the White House.

Read an NAPH staffer's take on the release of this report.