CEPR Deficit Calculator Deflates IOUSA Scare Story

[Hannah Bell]

For Immediate Release: November 10, 2008
Contact: Alan Barber [phone] x115

Washington, DC- Many viewers and reviewers of the film IOUSA wrongly believe that the United States faces a devastating budget crisis if it continues on its current path. In reality, the scare story is driven almost entirely by projections of exploding private sector health care costs.

A new online calculator released today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is designed to make this fact clear. The IOUSA Deficit Calculator uses per person health care costs in other nations to clearly show that U.S. health care costs are the main culprit behind our projected budget deficit woes...Users can simply check as many countries as they like in order to see what the U.S. budget deficit would be if the United States had the same per person health care costs as these countries.

"While there are serious economic issues the nation needs to be concerned about, the views presented in IOUSA are misleading and one-sided." said Dean Baker, Co-Director of CEPR. "Few viewers of the film will recognize the fact that ballooning health care costs are at the heart of our budget problem, not Social Security or demographics more generally."

For further analysis of the misleading assertions found in IOUSA, please visit www.iousanotok.org or IOUSA Not Ok on the CEPR website.

[aquart]

1. So socialized medicine is the only rational solution?

[Double T]

2. Free Market Capitalistic Health Care sure as hell isn't working!!!!

The 'victims' are being raped, pillaged and burned by the doctors, hospitals, HMOs, PPOs, Etc.

[Hannah Bell]

3. You mean the kind of health care they have in canada & europe?

I don't mind.

[aquart]

4. Me, either.

I keep telling Canadians I'll leave a door open at the border if they want to invade.