This is double the previous estimate and one wonders what it will be this time next year.

Washington Times:

President Obama's health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage - nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.

CBO said that this year's tax cuts have changed the incentives for businesses and made it less attractive to pay for insurance, meaning fewer will decide to do so. Instead, they'll choose to pay a penalty to the government, totaling $13 billion in higher fees over the next decade.

But the non-partisan agency also expects fewer people to have to pay individual penalties to the IRS than it earlier projects, because of a better method for calculating incomes that found more people will be exempt.

Overall, the new health provisions are expected to cost the government $1.165 trillion over the next decade - the same as last year's projection.

With other spending cuts and tax increases called for in the health law, though, CBO still says Mr. Obama's signature achievement will reduce budget deficits in the short term.

What if another 8 million or so illegal immigrants are allowed subsidies to help pay for insurance if they are made eligible for Obamacare, as the president wants? The CBO only looks at the present, and doesn't project costs based on what might happen in the future. What happens if insurance companies raise their rates 20-50% as many analysts suggest?Subsidies for Obamacare are likely to skyrocket as the cost of the plans increases and more businesses opt to pay the fine rather than cover their employees.

Look at these CBO numbers as a snapshot from today. When they revisit these same issues later in the year, all of these numbers are bound to increase.

How dramatically they go up is anyone's guess.