November 10, 2009 10:46AM 

# Obamacare Will Be a Budget Buster 

By [Daniel J. Mitchell](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

Does anyone think that a huge new entitlement program will lead to lower budget deficits? Sounds implausible, yet proponents of government-run healthcare claim this is the case according to the official estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation.

To use a technical phrase, this is hogwash. This new 6–1/2 minute video, narrated by yours truly, gives 12 reasons why Obamacare will lead to higher deficits — including real-world evidence showing how Medicare and Medicaid are much more costly than originally projected.

By the way, this video doesn’t even touch on the mandate issue, which Michael Cannon [explains ](http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODU0NGRhY2FhNDAyZDA4MzAzMDBlZTJiZjM3ZjA4NDM=?mfc-cato@liberty-20091108)is not being counted in order to make the cost of government-run healthcare less shocking.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).