The final report from the Congressional Budget Office is in on the Senate Finance Committee health reform bill, and it has some good and bad for both sides in the health care debate.
One big piece of good news for Democrats was that the ten year cost of the bill is $829 billion, as it would get health insurance to 29 million people who currently don't have such coverage.
The cost is less than the $900 billion goal set by President Obama, while the coverage numbers are short of what the White House wants, as the CBO report says 25 million people - one third of those illegals - would not have health insurance.
"This legislation, I believe is a smart investment on our federal balance sheet. It is even a smarter investment for our American families," said Sen. Max Baucus, who is now on the verge of a victory in his Finance Committee.
As for the deficit, the CBO report said over ten years, this health care plan would not add anything to the debt, but would bring in $81 billion extra, and reduce the deficit by the same.
Of course, there are two sides to that $81 billion coin.
"GRAB YOUR POCKETBOOKS", screamed the headline from a Republican National Committee release.
"What we know at this point is that the bill cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and increases insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN).
"With all of this, the bill spends nearly a $1 trillion and still leaves 25 million people without health insurance," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA).
"That's not much bang for the buck."
Expect that to be the mantra for Republicans in coming days, as they take potshots at not only the Baucus bill, but at whatever the Democrats produce for the floor in the House and Senate.
Democrats meanwhile will say this shows they can forge a bill that "doesn't add a dime to the deficit."
This isn't the last CBO report that we will be waiting for, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that once House Democrats finalize a bill, they will also send it to CBO to be reviewed.
That seems likely to delay any vote in the House until at least late October, if not into November, considering that the Democrats still haven't cut the last minute deals they will need to get this measure to the floor.
And we will also probably need a CBO score for the final Senate measure as well.
For Democrats, the CBO report was one more small step on the road to a health care bill.
Whether they can take all of the other steps, that's still to be determined.
If you want to read the CBO review, you can start at http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=387
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