WASHINGTON, D.C. - The health care reform law will increase the national deficit by $340 billion, a new study released yesterday found, The Washington Post reports. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been proclaimed as a way to keep costs down.

Charles Blahous, a policy analyst appointed by President Barack Obama to as a Republican trustee for Medicare and Social Security, analyzed the health care reform law, which had been expected to lower deficits because of higher taxes and slashed payouts to Medicare providers. While the law does contain revenue and savings, most of the money will be funneled to a Medicare hospitalization trust fund.

"Does the health-care act worsen the deficit? The answer, I think, is clearly that it does," said Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University??s Mercatus Center. "If one asserts that this law extends the solvency of Medicare, then one is affirming that this law adds to the deficit. Because the expansion of the Medicare trust fund and the creation of the new subsidies together create more spending than existed under prior law."

The Obama administration already has said the study isn??t relevant. "Opponents of reform are using 'new math?? while they attempt to refight the political battles of the past," said an anonymous White House budget official. "The fact of the matter is, the Congressional Budget Office and independent experts concluded that the health-reform law will reduce the deficit. That was true the day the bill was signed into law, and it??s true today."

Blahous defended his analysis, pointing out that the budget conventions had not taken into account the "double counting" of proposed Medicare savings. "This isn??t just a persnickety point about the intricacies of budget law," he said. "If Medicare were going insolvent in 2016, you??d better believe right now there would be more pressure on lawmakers to do something about it??It??s essential that there be a full public understanding of the most economically significant federal law in years."