I found this to be an interesting contemporary article regarding the use of policy analysis. We don't hear about the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) very much in the news, or in our day to day lives, but when they give support to a bill, or champion a legislators belief or value system, it is touted as a triumph.
If the CBO found that the plan would not have decreased the deficit, or if it was found to increase the deficit slightly with the same coverage estimates, do you think it would be a NYT newsworthy article? Do you think it would still be championed by the Dems,? Do you think it would actually have any impact on legislative process or decision-making regarding the Baucus Plan itself?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/health/policy/08health.html?_r=1
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2 comments:
Hey Evan, Thanks for the post - too bad I didn't see it before Policy class today ;)
Anyway, just as we talked about in Policy, I think this is a huge triumph that the CBO has found that the plan will not be more costly than expected. For that reason, and to answer a few of your other questions:
Yes, I think it would have made headlines had the CBO shown that the plan would increase the deficit, but mainly because of the recession - if the nation were not worried as much about the economy as we are today, it may not have been big news.
I hope this has some impact on Baucus' plan, in that I hope it makes some people realize that this plan may not be so bad afterall.
Hey Evan,
Thanks for posting this. I came across a less detailed version of this article. I am happy to see that Pelosi said a public option competing with private insurance will be in the reform proposal and also that a tax would be placed on high cost insurances, raising $201B in the next 10 years. This would help offset the $829B in additional costs. Apparently in the long-run this bill will be less costly than Baucus's plan. We'll have to see what happens on Tuesday!
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