Will Repealing “Obamacare” Fix the Debt?
Some candidates may propose to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare,” in order to solve the fiscal situation. But repealing the ACA in its entirety would actually likely increase the debt, and it would certainly not reduce deficits by enough to fix the debt. That is because although the legislation is projected to require roughly $1.7 trillion of new spending over the next decade, it also includes Medicare cuts and tax increases sufficient to more than finance that spending. In fact, CBO recently estimated that repealing the ACA would increase deficits by between $137 and $353 billion over the next decade, and around $3.5 trillion in the decade that follows.
To be sure, there are ways to repeal, replace, or reform parts of the ACA that might significantly reduce future deficits. But such changes would need to be carefully crafted and could not simply involve repealing “Obamacare.”
