The nonpartisan fact-checkers at PolitiFact Georgia say U.S. Rep. Paul Broun’s claim that “Obamacare will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion” is “mostly false.”
In a nutshell, the $6.2 trillion figure isn’t included in a Government Accountability Office report the Athens Republican cited in an Augusta Chronicle column. Apparently, Republican staffers cherry-picked data that later found its way into conservative media.
The GAO reports that the Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit by 1.5 percent over 75 years unless cost-containment provisions are phased out. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the law will reduce the deficit by $210 billion between 2012–2021.
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