White House takes on NYTimes over healthcare costs story

A senior White House official took on the New York Times on Tuesday over a story the paper ran warning of the fiscal impact of health reform.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag called out the paper's news story on the White House blog, emphasizing that President Barack Obama is committed to signing a health bill that is deficit-neutral.

"Every two weeks or so, there seems to be a story ringing the alarm bells over the fiscal dimension of health reform," Orszag wrote in his blog post. "As I've said time and again, the President is committed to signing a health reform bill that is deficit neutral in the first decade – and deficit reducing thereafter."

The Times story cited concerns by analysts and some Democrats over the health bills in the House and Senate over whether they would truly bring down health costs while having a deficit-neutral impact.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that both bills would bring in net savings over time, through their respective taxes and fees, as well as the cuts to Medicare contained in both bills.

Republicans pointed Tuesday afternoon to what they said was a disconnect between White House claims on the impact of the bills and the assessments of a number of other independent groups, including the Brookings Institution and Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS).

Orszag said both the House and Senate bills met Obama's test on impacting the deficit, and argued that the legislation would set up the U.S. health system for future success.

"As we go through the rest of the process, the administration will remain focused on ensuring that reform is fiscally responsible and helps to build the health care system of the future," the OMB director wrote.