Estimates by the Congressional Budget Office indicate that over time, the PPACA will decrease the national debt. Yet, in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, almost half of respondents believed that the opposite is true (Werhane, & Tieman, 2011). Long term financial benefits of the act, according to a report by Health and Human Services, include a reduction of government expenditures on Medicare of approximately $575 billion by 2019 (Werhane, & Tieman, 2011). Given the complexity of the issue and so many unknowns, it is difficult to predict costs over a long term, but it seems reasonable to consider the estimates by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.