From Media Matters For America:

Right-wing media have run with the Politico’s Jonathan Allen misleading calculation that the House’s recently announced health care reform legislation costs “about $2.24 million per word.” In fact, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 “would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $104 billion”; therefore, using Allen’s formula, the bill would actually save $260,000 per word.

Allen’s
calculation: House bill costs “$2.24 million per
word”

From Allen’s October 29 Politico article:

The House health care bill unveiled
Thursday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words. With an estimated
10-year cost of $894 billion, that comes out to about $2.24 million per word.

In fact, bill
saves $260,000
per word

CBO: “H.R. 3962
would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $104 billion over
the 2010–2019 period.” From CBO:

Estimated
Budgetary Impact of H.R. 3962

According to CBO and JCT’s
assessment, enacting H.R. 3962 would result in a net reduction in federal budget
deficits of $104 billion over the 2010–2019 period (see Table 1). In the
subsequent decade, the collective effect of its provisions would probably be
slight reductions in federal budget deficits. Those estimates are all subject to
substantial uncertainty.

The estimate includes a projected
net cost of $894 billion over 10 years for the proposed expansions in insurance
coverage. That net cost itself reflects a gross total of $1,055 billion in
subsidies provided through the exchanges (and related spending), increased net
outlays for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and tax
credits for small employers; those costs are partly offset by $167 billion in
collections of penalties paid by individuals and employers. On balance, other
effects on revenues and outlays associated with the coverage provisions add $6
billion to their total cost.

Over the 2010–2019 period, the net
cost of the coverage expansions would be more than offset by the combination of
other spending changes, which CBO estimates would save $426 billion, and
receipts resulting from the income tax surcharge on high-income individuals and
other provisions, which JCT and CBO estimate would increase federal revenues by
$572 billion over that period.

Using Allen’s
calculation, bill saves $260,000
per word. If one were to divide the $104
billion deficit reduction that CBO estimates the House bill would cause by the
number of words in the bill,
which Allen claims is 400,000, then one would find that the bill
would save $260,000 per word.

Right-wing media
run with Allen’s calculation

Drudge: “$2.2M a word.”
The October 30 homepage of the
Drudge Report highlighted Allen’s story as its headline article. From the Drudge
Report:

Fox
& Friends: Bill “costs us
$2.2 million per word.” Fox & Friends repeatedly highlighted
the $2.2 million-per-word calculation during its October 30 broadcast. Co-host
Steve Doocy said, “Extraordinarily, with the 400,000 words — I think it was
Politico that averaged — it costs us $2.2 million
per word, what’s in this
thing.”

Fox
News’ Hemmer: Bill costs “2.5 million per word.” On the October 30
edition of America’s Newsroom,
co-host Bill Hemmer said the House bill “clocks in at exactly 1,990 pages.
That’s half a billion dollars per page, 2.5 million per
word.”

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