Opinion: Fed deficit to top $9 trillion -- boon or bust to healthcare reform?

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Citing an economic downtown worse than imagined, with stubborn job losses and red ink spreading for as far as the eye can see, the Obama administration said today that the deficit will top $9 trillion within 10 years. The White House floated the number last week, hoping to blunt the effect of the midyear forecast.

This being Washington, the number was greeted as a political matter, seen as a fiscal rebuttal to those torrid town halls and rancorous debates over healthcare policy, or as a vindication of the critics.

‘A lot of people will look at this deficit and say we cannot afford healthcare reform,’ said Budget Director Peter Orszag in releasing the numbers. But, he insisted, the impact of rising Medicare costs on the deficit ‘is precisely why we must enact fiscally well-designed healthcare reform now.’

Republicans disagree, and are planning a full-scale attack on healthcare redesign based on the new projections starting this week. The new pitch: Comprehensive healthcare reform is now unaffordable.

‘Lawmakers need to understand these jaw-dropping deficits before voting on a new $1.5-trillion healthcare entitlement,’ said Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for House Republican Leader John Boehner, who plans a series of reports, releases and conference calls to make the GOP case.
Democrats have been making noises of late that they may give up on bipartisanship and pass healthcare reform without Republicans. If that happens, look for the 2010 elections to revolve around that old political standard bearer, ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid.’

--Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: AFP
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