AP: House Health Bill will increase deficit by at least $200 billion

From the AP:

The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, according to numerous Democratic officials and figures contained in an analysis by congressional budget experts, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan...

"Now, add it all up," Obama said in a nationally televised speech in early September. "and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has referred repeatedly to the bill's net cost of $894 billion over a decade for coverage...

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the measure... would "not add one dime to the deficit."

"In fact," added Daly, "the CBO said last week that it will reduce the deficit both in the first 10 years and in the second 10 years."

However, now that the AP has informed us that the health care bill will cost over $300 billion more than [Pelosi and] the CBO' s estimate, it would seem the CBO's assurance of a reduced government deficit is misguided.

Here is what the CBO claims:

Enacting H.R. 3962 would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $104 billion over the 2010–2019 period... The estimate includes a projected net cost of $894 billion over 10 years for the proposed expansions in insurance coverage.

But in fact, if the AP is correct, the health care bill will cost $1.2 trillion, not $894 billion as cited by the CBO. Hence H.R. 3962 would result in a net increase in federal budget deficits of $200 billion [rounded number].

Of course, this is only the AP's estimate. Lord knows what the real costs of this health care bill will be.