Why did Congress ignore CBO guidelines for true reform?

After CBO released their report in July, it was clear that HR3200 had completely missed the mark: the White House wanted the bill to NOT increase the budget but it did the opposite; the White House wanted the bill to provide healthcare for “everyone” (it didn’t) and the White House wanted it to improve the quality of healthcare (it didn’t).  The CBO director blogged about how he was called to the White House to meet with the President about the report that the CBO had given.  See the short blog here.  The CBO director’s blog implies that the bill had unfortunately NOT INCLUDED many of the most impactful changes for healthcare that would have met the original goals of true and meaningful healthcare reform: that is, reduced the deficit while providing better healthcare for more people as set forth in a document called “CBO’s Budget Options for Health Care ” written in December 2008 by the CBO: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf

More blogs by CBO at http://www.cbo.gov/publications/bysubject.cfm?cat=9 :

 July 25, 2009   – CBO released a letter to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer analyzing some possible approaches for giving the President broad authority to make changes in the Medicare program. Under those approaches, any changes the President decided to implement would be based on recommendations from an advisory council and subject to Congressional disapproval. Expanding the authority of the President to effect change in the Medicare program might lead to significant long-term savings in federal spending on health care but would also entail shifting some power from the Congress to the executive branch.

August 7, 2009 – The Budgetary Effects of Expanding Governmental Support for Preventive Care and Wellness Services “…..So a new government policy to encourage prevention could end up paying for preventive services that many individuals are already receiving—which would add to federal costs but not reduce total future spending on health care.”