The CBO Weighs In: The Senate's Opt-Out Health Reform Bill Is A Big Budget-Deficit Reducer, And Will Produce Fantastic Cost Savings

And how could it not? Our current system is so inefficient that it's easy to design something better.

So, let's roll:

The health care bill--which includes an opt-out public option--will require $849 billion over 10 years in new spending, to be paid for with cuts to Medicare, while reducing the deficit by $127 billion.

In that time it will extend coverage to 31 million Americans--94 percent of citizens will be covered by 2019.

Over the second 10 years, CBO projects even greater cost savings--up to $650 billion, with the caveat that after 10 years, their analyses become highly uncertain.