Healthcare Reform: House and Senate proposals would be a drag on the weak economy according to the CBO

Ice cold water was poured on the current House and Senate Healthcare Reform proposals by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). According to the Washington Post, CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf testified today before the Senate Budget Committee that the proposed legislation by both chambers of Congress "significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care cost." It appears that the populist approach, of taxing the rich to pay for healthcare reform, won't be enough.

According to Elmendorf, things that would be needed to curtail the growth of healthcare spending include ending the tax free treatment of employer provided health care and also changing the way Medicare reimburses providers so that it incentivize's cost savings.

In other words, if real healthcare reform is going to be a reality everybody's going to have some skin in the game, not just the rich. This is going to be a hard pill to swallow.