Report: Slight cost increase in Senate health bill - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON – The Senate's plan to expand health coverage to 34 million more Americans would raise costs slightly, government economic experts said in a report Saturday.
Over time, cost-cutting measures could start to reduce the annual increases in health care spending, offering the possibility of substantial savings in the long run. At the same time, however, some of the Senate's Medicare savings could be unrealistic and cause lawmakers to roll them back, according to Medicare's top number crunchers.
The study found that health spending, which accounts for about one-sixth of the economy, would increase by less than 1 percent than it otherwise would over the coming decade even with so many more people receiving coverage.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the report shows the Senate bill would slow the rate of health care costs, strengthen Medicare and provide millions more people with insurance coverage.
President Barack Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to play up the brighter side of the overhaul he hopes to sign in time for his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in a matter of weeks.
He said it would ban 'the worst practices of the insurance industry' even as he acknowledged it would take several years — until 2014 in some instances — for some of the changes to be fully in place. That has disappointed consumers and their advocates."
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