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"In all likelihood, it will be over $1 trillion," he added, citing his own estimate of $1.5 trillion. Economist Len Nichols, who heads the health policy project at the New America Foundation, said guaranteed coverage will cost $125 billion to $150 billion a year when fully phased in. White House budget director Peter Orszag told the House Budget Committee earlier this month that the president's $634 billion fund is "likely to be the majority of the cost." Roughly half of the money would come from spending cuts, and the other half from tax increases. But whether the $634 billion represents 50 percent, 60 percent or 70 percent of the cost "will depend on the details of whatever is finally done ... as we move through the legislative process," Orszag added. The overall cost matters because the expansion of health coverage is meant to be a permanent reform. That means future generations will have to bear the cost. "We are dealing with huge numbers," said David Walker, a former U.S. comptroller general and now head of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a group that promotes fiscal responsibility. "We need to have a much better sense of what we are talking about doing, and whether or not it's affordable and sustainable over time."
[Associated
Press;
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