They say it'll cost around $829 billion and reduce the deficit by $81 billion. They also noted that the co-ops are ineffectual.
The alternative to government-sold health care, a proposal for nonprofit co-ops that would compete with private companies, was judged largely ineffective by budget officials. Such arrangements "seem unlikely to establish a significant medical presence in many areas of the country," they wrote.
But it's unclear what they mean by "co-ops." Are they the original co-ops that were proposed before the markup, or is the CBO referring to the weak public option proposed and passed by Senator Cantwell.
Nevertheless, can Kent Conrad officially STFU about co-ops?
Now we can finally get out of Finance and reconcile this thing with the more liberal HELP Committee bill. The Finance bill is as conservative as healthcare reform will ever be, so in a way, there's some comfort in knowing that it won't get any worse than this and, in fact, the final Senate bill will be more liberal than Baucus' crap on a stick.