Health Care Reform and the Federal Budget Deficit

Health care reform was the topic as Public Agenda's Scott Bittle – author, with Jean Johnson, of "Where Does the Money Go? Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis" – dropped by Health Care Week in Review, at the Corporate Research Group, for a discussion of some of the challenges ahead if a serious attempt is to be made to tackle this national problem.

Both presidential candidates have very different ideas about health care reform, but according to the Tax Policy Center, there's one similarity: the cost of the proposals each man has made each exceed a trillion dollars.

How can the federal government take on that added load, with the federal budget already surging to a deficit that's expected to top $400 billion this year?

Click here to see the video of the Sept. 12, 2008 interview with Bittle's observations on that subject, including the potential for solutions and public opinion research on the options for health care reform.

To learn more about these issues, check out our Voter's Survival Kit guides to Health Care and Taxes, Spending & Debt. And for further resources on the federal budget crisis, why it matters, and what can be done about it, go to FacingUp.org.