The Congressional Budget Office is one of the few nonpartisan agencies in Washington that Republicans and Democrats look to for accurate figures on what a proposed bill would cost.

They’ve looked at the Kennedy health care measure and estimate it would add at least $1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Expanded eligibility for Medicaid would add more to the deficit, as would other options such as subsidizing coverage for those with incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

What’s more, the Democrat plan would leave 36 million Americans uninsured, according to the CBO analysis. Currently, an estimated 50 million are not insured.

Democrats will use these huge deficits to justify massive tax increases such as limiting tax deductions, taxing health care benefits and other methods. At the end, you can almost guarantee health care will be inferior to what is now available.

There are ways to fix what’s wrong with health care while saving what is right. The Obama-Kennedy plan is the wrong approach.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.