The CBO released a preliminary scoring of the Baucus Plan, showing that the plan reduces the deficit over its first ten years. It also shows some other positive outcomes of the bill which are, in part, related to Kent Conrad's sneaky request for the CBO to suddenly expand its scoring to 20 years instead of 10.
None of this excuses a shitty plan that basically holds most of us hostage to the private health insurance industry, of course.
By the way, the House bill with the public option reduces the deficit, too, according to the CBO. And it's a much better bill. Regardless, all of the bills have to be revenue neutral. So why not have a bill that doesn't screw us? Seems fair to me.
Adding... The CBO also confirms the inefficacy of the co-ops:
The agency also said the proposal by Baucus, a Montana Democrat, to use insurance cooperatives, rather than a government-run plan, to provide competition to private insurers would ‘seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country.”