In a little-noticed revision put out last night, the Congressional Budget Office altered their analysis of the House health care bill, saying it would save $30 billion more than expected in the first ten years. This would make the House bill MORE of a deficit-reducer than the companion legislation in the Senate.

The Congressional Budget Office has revised its estimate of the net budgetary impact— transmitted on November 6, 2009—of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. In that November 6 letter, CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that changes in direct spending and revenues from enacting H.R. 3962 would yield a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $109 billion over the 2010-2019 period. CBO and JCT now estimate that the legislation would yield a net reduction in deficits of $138 billion over the 10-year period, correcting a mistake that CBO made in its earlier assessment of the impact of section 2581 of the legislation, which would establish the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports
(CLASS) program.

The CLASS Act is a voluntary federal long-term care insurance program which appears in both the House and Senate bills. CBO botched the estimate of savings from that program in the House bill, and this revision actually makes the House bill slightly more fiscally responsible in the 10-year window than the Senate bill. The CBO estimates that the Senate bill would save $130 billion by 2019, although it does save $650 billion in the following ten years, more than the House’s version. Those long-term estimates are less reliable.

The Speaker’s office has released a list of the key differences between the House and Senate bills. You can add this latest change to the additional facts:

• The House bill covers 36 million Americans by 2019, the Senate covers 31 million.
• The major elements of the bill are implemented in the House in 2013, and in the Senate in 2014.
• The House covers the donut hole for seniors fully, unlike the Senate.
• The House’s public option does not have a state opt-out.
• The House eliminates the insurance industry’s anti-trust exemption, the Senate does not.
• The House bill would actually increase employer-sponsored coverage, because it’s more small-c conservative than the Senate.

Just something to keep in mind as we monitor the Senate debate today.