The Presidential commission tasked with trying to find a way to stabilize and cut our deficit will vote tomorrow on its final recommendations. Theoretically, it would then go before Congress and President Obama for consideration.  The commission’s co-chairs, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senator Alan Simpson, made waves earlier in the month by leaking their own controversial plan and encouraging members of the panel to adopt it. Yesterday, Bowles and Simpson brought a largely unchanged plan to the full panel.  Panel members then began indicating whether they’d vote for it.  

The Congressional Budget Office signed off on the math in the Senate Finance Committee's health care overhaul bill, saying the legislation will reduce the deficit and save taxpayer money overall. But not so fast: The insurance industry did its own calculations and says consumers will be hit with a whopper of a pricetag. So who do consumers believe? And how do you figure out the cost of health care ten years from now? As the Senate Finance Committee prepares to vote on its bill today, we look at the science and politics of calculating the cost, with former CBO director Alice Rivlin and New York Times reporter David Herszenhorn.

Feeling wonky? Read the CBO's analysis of the Finance Committee's bill and compare it to the analysis from America's Health Insurance Plans, which says the Senate Finance bill will rack up extra costs for consumers. [PDF, 592k]