In response to the report that repealing "ObamaCare" would actually increase the federal budget deficit , I sent the following letter to the Chronicle (the link to the specific article was not available on the Chronicle's website):

re:  CBO scoring of health care repeal

As the new Republican-majority House of Representatives gears up to take its vote to repeal last year's health care "reform" legislation, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a report claiming that doing so would increase the federal budget deficit by $145 billion over 10 years.  The claim is a bit misleading.

To "pay for" enactment of the bureaucracy required to implement and enforce the new mandates, prohibitions, subsidies, and Medicaid expansion included in the bill, the legislation contained tax increases on medical devices, so-called "premium" health insurance plans, tanning beds, health savings accounts, and incomes, as well as "cuts" in the presumed growth of Medicare of over $500 billion.  In addition, to meet the 10-year budget cycle involved in the CBO scoring process, the taxes were phased in more quickly than the costlier provisions of the bill.

Thus it is not the repeal of the details of the health care "reforms" that were part of the legislation, but rather repealing the proposed tax increases and Medicare cuts that leads to the deficit increase referenced by the CBO.  Minus those tax increases, the price tag of the government expansion mandated under "ObamaCare" would be substantial.

Sincerely,
Dave Smith
Houston, TX