CBO: ACA costs to be $100 billion less than previous projections

Citing the continued slowdown in health care costs, the Congressional Budget Office this week projected that the ACA will cost more than $100 billion less than previous forecasts over the next decade (Source: “Budget Office Lowers Estimate for the Cost of Expanding Health Coverage,” New York Times, April 14, 2014).

The total cost of the ACA is now expected to be $1.383 trillion, according to the nonpartisan budget office.

The reduced estimate is attributable mostly to the budget office’s cutting its projections of federal spending for subsidies for insurance premiums, with estimates falling by $3 billion for spending in 2014 and $164 billion over 10 years.

The budget office also issued projections that 12 million more nonelderly people would have insurance in 2014 than would have otherwise, rising to 26 million in 2017. The budget office, making projections along with the Joint Committee on Taxation, said the number of uninsured people would drop to 30 million in 2017 from 42 million in 2014.