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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: Press Office |
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Stabenow:
CBO and Joint Tax Find Healthy Americans Act Would Lead to Surplus
after 2014
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| WASHINGTON
—U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) today announced that the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (Joint Tax) have
released a report finding that the Healthy Americans Act would be roughly
budget neutral in 2014 and that implementation of the Act would create
surpluses after that year. The bipartisan Act would provide affordable,
quality, health coverage for every American, regardless of where they
work or live. The findings were released by CBO Director, Peter Orszag,
in a closed-door briefing with a bipartisan group of cosponsors. Copies
of the CBO/Joint Tax Report are available on the CBO Web site at www.cbo.gov.
"Health care should be a right, not a privilege in this country, and the Healthy Americans Act represents a truly bipartisan solution to the health care crisis threatening our nation,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). “Today's report from the CBO takes us one step further in addressing the practicality and necessity of providing a health care system that works for all Americans." Today’s announcement comes on the heels of last week’s amendment to the Healthy Americans Act ensuring that Americans content with their current insurance plans will not see a change in their coverage. The Healthy Americans Act has fourteen U.S. Senate
co-sponsors and represents the first bipartisan, health reform bill
to cover all Americans. In addition to guaranteeing that every American
can afford quality, private health insurance, the Healthy Americans
Act would: 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 (and continue cases of job loss); promote personal
responsibility and preventative medicine and reform the insurance market
so that insurers are forced to compete on price, benefits and quality. |