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August 25, 2015 at 11:17 AM
The federal government may spend about $37 billion this year on public health insurance exchange subsidies and related programs, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
CBO analysts included that spending figure in a new budget outlook update.
In March, CBO analysts said the country would spend about $41 million on exchange plan subsidies and related costs, or about 10 percent more.
In 2014, the actual cost of the exchange programs was $15 billion.
The analysts have reduced their estimate of how much the programs will cost from 2016 through 2025 by about 0.6 percent from their estimate released in March 2015, to $880 billion. Between January 2015 and March 2015, the analysts cut their exchange program spending estimates about 20 percent because exchange plan enrollment has been growing more slowly than they originally assumed.
See also: Public exchanges have 10.2 million paid enrollees
The exchange spending figure includes the cost of premium subsidies, cost-sharing reduction subsidies, the temporary PPACA reinsurance program for fully PPACA-compliant individual health insurance, and the PPACA risk-adjustment program.
The analysts assume that reinsurance and risk-adjustment program revenue will offset program spending, keeping the programs from having any effect on the federal budget deficit.
