Officials preview budget

February 26, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s first budget will seek $634 billion over 10 years as a down payment on health-care reform — a little more than half what it may ultimately cost to provide every American with medical coverage.

The budget also proposes a mix of tax cuts for the middle class and tax increases for upper-income households. That includes extending beyond 2010 the $400 annual tax cut in the stimulus plan just signed into law.

The disclosures came from two administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget won’t be made public until today.

Obama claims his plan can reduce the extraordinary $1.5 trillion deficit this year to $533 billion in 2013 — an uncertain goal given the turbulent economy.

The health-care provisions are meant to start a dialogue with Congress over how to provide coverage for an estimated 48 million uninsured while also slowing health- care costs, which amount to $2.4 trillion a year and keep rising even as the economy is shrinking.

Independent experts say providing coverage for all could easily cost more than $1 trillion over 10 years, a figure the Obama administration does not dispute. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, however, are concerned about that cost.

Budget documents provided to The Associated Press show that Obama will not lay out a detailed blueprint for a health-care overhaul, but rather a set of broad policy principles and some specific ideas for how to raise a big chunk of the money.