July 18 - Yesterday, the CBO released preliminary cost estimates for the House Tri-Committee health care reform bill. According to the CBO, the bill would increase ten year deficits by $239 billion -- including by $65 billion in the tenth year alone.

Included in the bill is a $228 billion fix ($245 including interactions) to Medicare physicians payments, which would otherwise face steep cuts. Outside of this fix, and a few other spending measures (for example, a temporary reinsurance program for seniors) the bill includes roughly $583 billion in revenue raises (almost entirely from a surtax on very high earners) and almost $500 in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Coverage Provisions $1042 Spending Changes -$219 Revenue Changes $583 Deficit Impact $239