Surprise! CBO Says Health Care Spending Will Cause U.S. Debt to Reach Record Heights

Blog Articles · Sep 16, 2013 · Budget and Spending

A report issued today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook, indicates that health care spending in the U.S. is going to cause our debt to reach record high levels.

This is definitely not a surprise; conservatives, researchers at the Heritage Foundation among many others, have been warning politicians about this for years.

Back in 2012, Heritage's Alyene Senger noted that Obamacare's entitlement spending will make this problem dramatically worse in the years ahead:

Obamacare's major provisions begin to kick in in 2014, and this will result in federal spending for health care programs other than Medicare and Medicaid rising from $26 billion this year to $161 billion in 2022.

Tuesday, the Politico Pro Whiteboard summarized some of the key findings in the CBO budget report (sub. req'd):

Federal spending on major health care programs and Social Security is projected to grow to 14 percent of the GDP by 2038, according to the CBO's Long-Term Budget Outlook released today. That's double the 7 percent average in the past 40 years, the CBO said.
CBO attributed the rise in spending to an an aging population, rising health care costs and an expansion of health insurance subsidies.
At the same time, federal spending on everything else will decline to 7 percent of GDP, down from the 11 percent average of the past 40 years "and a smaller share of the economy than at any time since the late 1930s," the CBO said.

Congress should take note of these findings, defund Obamacare, and reform entitlements. They should fully and efficiently fund our national defense, a core constitutional responsibility. Failing to do will undermine both our economic security and national security.

Related Links:

Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity