ObamaCare just got $100 billion cheaper


The Congressional Budget Office is out with its latest estimate of ObamaCare's effects, and the news is heartening for the administration: The health care law will cost $104 billion less than previously projected over the next decade. In 2014 alone, the revised projection shows the law costing $5 billion less than previously estimated.
[CBO]
That finding indicates the law is working a little better than anticipated at driving down health care costs, with the projected savings coming mostly as a result of lower spending for tax subsidies in the law and through cheaper premiums. Though premiums are still expected to go up relative to where they were pre-ObamaCare, the increase is estimated to be less significant.
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The news comes one week after Gallup reported that the uninsured rate had fallen to 15.6 percent, its lowest level since 2008. Taken together, the two findings are by no means indicative that ObamaCare is already a resounding success. Yet they both poke holes in the arguments from ObamaCare critics who feared the law would implode beneath spiraling premiums and lackluster participation.
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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
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