The Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") is projected to add $6.2 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 75 years. If Congress alters the health care law's payment cuts to doctors and hospitals, costs could skyrocket, magnifying the unsustainable trajectory of the federal budget, says Christopher Conover, an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
- The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the official auditor of the U.S. Congress, foresees two scenarios: one where the current law is enacted exactly as it was envisioned, or an alternative scenario where the health care law is modified by Congress.
- As demonstrated by precedent, Congress often deviates from the letter of the law like it did when it previously refused to cut Medicare physician fees in 2003 as was legally required by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
- Regardless of which scenario occurs, current U.S. spending is unsustainable in the long run and is projected to reach 200 percent of gross domestic product at some point in the future.
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