The federal deficit for the 2015 fiscal year be $18 billion lower than projected and $431 billion lower over a 10-year window, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday.
The non-partisan CBO historically updates its earlier forecast after the White House has released its proposed budget, which happened in February. In its revised March forecast on Monday, the CBO said lower-than-forecast private insurance premiums have caused it to to rethink federal spending estimates.
The CBO now expects a slightly better outlook for the deficit, saying it should be about $486 billion for the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. That would be the same amount as it was in fiscal 2014, and it would be a hair lower as a percentage of the broader economy at 2.7 percent compared to 2.8 percent a year earlier.
The lower estimates of private health insurance spending, through lower premiums, is expected to lower costs modestly across government spending. Consequently, the CBO now thinks the net costs of the Affordable Care Act, shorthanded as Obamacare, will be 11 percent lower - or $1.207 trillion - over the next decade. In January, the ACA’s net cost was estimated at $1.35 trillion.
The CBO also revised its estimate for enrollment in the ACA, projecting that 24 million non-elderly Americans will get coverage through insurance exchanges over the next decade. That’s about 1 million fewer than projected in January.
Comments