KHN column: An entitlement certain to grow in spite of 'firewalls'

In his latest column for Kaiser Health News, James Capretta addresses health reform and the nation's finances. "One of the main arguments President Barack Obama and other Democrats have made on behalf of the health care bills that have passed the House and the Senate is that they would reduce the federal budget deficit in the coming decade and in the years following as well.

Their claim is backed up by the official cost estimates provided by the Congressional Budget Office that show modest improvements in the budget outlook through 2019 if the bills become law. But there are important reasons to be very skeptical that a final health care bill will improve the nation's budget outlook, both in the short and the long term (1/7). Read entire column.