From the July 28 New York Times article, “Democrats Push Health Care Plan While Issuing Assurances on Medicare”:

President Obama tried Tuesday to sell his health care plan to older Americans, as members of Congress said they were deluged with calls from constituents worried that their Medicare benefits might be cut to help finance coverage for the uninsured.

The outpouring of concern over Medicare came as House Democratic leaders tried to assuage the concerns of fiscally conservative House Democrats who have held up action on health care legislation while they press for changes to reduce the cost of the bill, estimated at $1 trillion over 10 years.

Pear, Herszenhorn claim bill cost is “estimated at $1 trillion over 10 years” is false

CBO found that the House tri-committee bill would increase the federal budget deficit by $239 billion over 10 years -- not $1 trillion. In its July 17 cost estimate of the bill as introduced, CBO explained that its “estimate reflects a projected 10-year cost of the bill's insurance coverage provisions of $1,042 billion, partly offset by net spending changes that CBO estimates would save $219 billion over the same period, and by revenue provisions that [the Joint Committee on Taxation] estimates would increase federal revenues by about $583 billion over those 10 years.”

NYT joins MSNBC in advancing false cost estimate. During the July 27 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, CNBC host Maria Bartiromo falsely asserted as fact that the health care reform proposal under consideration in Congress will cost a “trillion dollars over 10 years.”