New Study: Affordable Care Act Worsens the Nation's Already Unsustainable Fiscal Path

Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Authors: 
Charles Blahous

One of the primary justifications for the health care law’s passage was its fiscal benefits. But a significant new study by Mercatus Center scholar Chuck Blahous [1], public trustee for Medicare and Social Security, finds that the law falls well short of this standard, and in fact, unambiguously worsens the nation’s already unsustainable fiscal path.

Key findings 

  • Even under an optimistic scenario, the health care law will add more than $1.15 trillion to federal spending over the next decade.
  • The law will add more than $340 billion and as much as $530 billion to federal deficits over the same period, and increasing amounts thereafter.
  • To ensure the health care law doesn’t worsen the nation’s fiscal outlook, two-thirds of the subsidies must be repealed or other fiscal offsets found before benefits begin in 2014.

For more on this paper’s findings, click here [2] and visit here [3] for a copy of the entire study. 


Source URL: https://www.mercatus.org/expert_commentary/new-study-affordable-care-act-worsens-nations-already-unsustainable-fiscal-path

Links
[1] https://www.mercatus.org/charles-blahous
[2] https://www.mercatus.org/sites/default/files/publication/Fiscal-Consequences-Affordable-Care-Act-Summary.pdf
[3] https://www.mercatus.org/publication/fiscal-consequences-affordable-care-act

https://www.mercatus.org