Health Care Reform Will Reduce The Deficit, Claims Former CBO Official

According to a former official from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the health care reform legislation signed into law by President Obama last week will not increase the nation's deficit, despite GOP warnings to the contrary.

"CBO estimates that health reform will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over its first 10 years," Paul Van De Water, a former CBO Assistant Director for Budget Analysis, told reporters Monday in a conference call held by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

De Water rejected Republican claims that Congressional Democrats manipulated the legislation to show short-term deficit reduction followed by an increase.

"When CBO looks at the legislation as a whole, it finds that health reform reduces the deficit by far more in its second 10 years than its first 10 years," De Water explained. "CBO projects the bill will continue to reduce the deficit in later years as well."