GOP bill requires CBO reporting of O-Care costs, revenue

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) introduced a bill Thursday that would require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to annually report ObamaCare revenue and spending changes to Congress.

“CBO undoubtedly faces considerable challenges in separating the impact of the law from some of the other programs that interact with it, but it can and should be able to estimate those costs and impacts so that Congress and the American people understand the true scope of financial harm that ObamaCare is causing,” Johnson said.

{mosads}Johnson found bipartisan support for his measure, S. 2446, as a budget resolution when the Senate approved its budget in March of 2013. But currently CBO provides estimates of “coverage-only provisions” within the healthcare law.

Johnson said recent reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) doesn’t have an adequate system to assess eligibility for healthcare subsidies proves more transparency in spending is needed.

“News this week has highlighted a real problem in how Congress accounts for this huge expansion of government health care spending,” Johnson said. “The estimates related to coverage-only provisions are inadequate for assessment of a law that touches nearly every aspect of our health care system.”

His bill came the same day CBO announced that a fraction of the people without health insurance in 2016 will pay a penalty under ObamaCare’s individual mandate.