What will universal health care do? Not much, according to the CBO

So, do you want universal health insurance? If so, you can expect your wage increases to slow, and don't expect health care to improve.

You don't have to believe me, but that is what the Congressional Budget Office is saying. Check out Page 4 of the testimony given to a Senate budget committee here (a PDF file).

Here is part of the testimony: "The available evidence also suggests that a substantial share of spending on health care contributes little if anything to the overall health of the nation, but finding ways to reduce such spending without also affecting services that improve health will be difficult."

Also: "... the growth of health care costs has contributed to slow growth in wages because workers must give up other forms of compensation to offset the rising costs of employment-based insurance."

We might be forced to pay higher taxes for universal coverage: "Many analysts would agree that controlling federal costs over the long term will be very difficult without addressing the underlying forces that are also causing private costs for health care to rise."

And this: "Fourth, many of the steps that analysts would recommend might not yield substantial budgetary savings or reductions in national spending on health care within a 10-year window—and others might increase federal costs or total spending ... ."