Congressional Budget Office Favorable Toward Bennett's Healthy Americans Act

May 01, 2008 by Lara Jones

(KCPW News) The Congressional Budget Office today says the Healthy Americans Act co-sponsored by Utah Senator Bob Bennett will cut health care costs and lead to a budget surplus by 2014. Bennett says fixing health care starts with the tax code:

"The fundamental portion of that is that we change the present system that says that only employers can get a significant tax benefit from the way they handle health care - we transfer that to individuals."

Bennett and Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, have won 12 U.S. Senate co-sponsors for what they say is the first bipartisan, health reform bill to cover all Americans. In addition to guaranteeing that every American can afford quality, private health insurance, the Bennett-Wyden bill aims to give Americans choice in where they get their health care; break the link between employment and insurance to make health care portable from job to job; promote personal responsibility and preventative medicine, and reform the insurance market so that insurers are forced to compete on price, benefits and quality.

Says Bennett: "If we do this right, we could save as much as the total defense budget. Now I'm not claiming that this bill will do that, but I am claiming that Senator Wyden and I and our other co-sponsors - as we've now reached the level of 14 - are on the track to get that process started."

Click here for a copy of the full CBO report.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW