Quick Fact: Fox News advances falsehood that health bill will “bankrupt” country

Written by Dianna Parker

Published

On Fox News' America's Newsroom, anchor Patti Ann Browne allowed Citizens Against Government Waste's David Williams to falsely claim that the Senate health care bill is “going to bankrupt this country in a matter of years.” Browne at no point noted that the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] reported that the Senate's health reform bill will reduce federal deficits by $130 billion through 2019.

From the December 23 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

BROWNE: We need to be clear. For every winner, there's a loser. Some states are getting hundreds of millions, even billions in perks. Other states will have to pay for that. So while the deals are rewards for states that voted for the bill, is it also a punishment for those that voted against?

WILLIAMS: Oh, it's a big lump of coal in everyone's stockings because even if you're a state that's getting more money, well other states are getting more money, so you still have to pay for that. So, this really is not a good deal for anyone even though, on a local level, it might look like a good deal. This really is just a bust and it's really-it's going to bankrupt this country in a matter of years.

BROWNE: What would you say are the most egregious pork additions here?

FACT: CBO projected Senate health bill would reduce deficit

CBO: Bill yields “a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion” over 10 years. From CBO's December 19 cost estimate of the Senate bill incorporating the manager's amendment:

CBO and JCT estimate that, on balance, the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act incorporating the manager's amendment would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $130 billion over the 2010-2019 period.

CBO expects bill to continue deficit reduction during decade after 2019. CBO also estimated on December 20 that the bill will continue to reduce the deficit beyond the 10-year budget window that ends in 2019 “with a total effect during that decade that is in a broad range between one-quarter percent and one-half percent of GDP.”