Prevention Matters

Democrats will claim that health care reform legislation has benefits and cost savings in areas including prevention that aren't scored by the Congressional Budget Office, The Hill reports.

"Democrats are going to seek to convince skeptics that the healthcare overhaul has other provisions, such as prevention and wellness measures, that will provide benefits and save money, a House leadership aide told The Hill on Sunday."

On Saturday, the CBO and director Doug Elmendorf issued a cost report concluding that if an independent Medicare panel set costs, only $2 billion would be saved over 10 years. White House budget director Peter Orszag on Saturday criticized the CBO and suggested he was puzzled by the methodology the CBO used to estimate cost savings from a proposed Independent Medicare Advisory Council.