U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is requesting a Congressional Budget Office score on the single-payer bill introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the Senate Wednesday.
Mr. Barrasso penned a letter to CBO Director Keith Hall highlighting his request and the reasoning behind it.
"I am deeply concerned that Sen. Sanders' Medicare-for-All legislation is not only a government takeover of healthcare, but would also put financial burdens on the American people that they cannot sustain," he wrote. "It is being sold as a new health system paid for completely by the government, with no restrictions and at no cost to the patient. Of course, such a system would be anything but free for the American taxpayer. Sen. Sanders' plan would cause federal spending to skyrocket and require massive tax increases — a policy combination that would have crippling effects on the American economy."
Mr. Barrasso pointed to an estimate from the Urban Institute of a similar proposal by Mr. Sanders, which projected a $2.5 trillion increase in federal spending this year and by $32 trillion over a decade.
He goes on to request from the CBO a cost estimate of the Medicare for All Act of 2017 introduced this week, "including increased interest costs on any new federal debt incurred as a result of the proposal." He also requested the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation work together "to provide a revenue estimate for the list of taxes included in his [Mr. Sanders'] 'Options to Finance Medicare for All,' as well as an economic impact analysis.
Mr. Sanders' bill has garnered support from 16 Democratic colleagues, but not from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif.