Trump steps up ObamaCare repeal push, meets with law’s ‘victims’

It says if the Republican plan is adopted, 14 million people will be uninsured in 2018, with that number ballooning to 52 million by 2026 – nearly twice as many people who would not have insurance if Obamacare remained intact. Most of the increase in uninsured, the CBO said, would come from repealing penalties associated with that mandate-after all, some people only have health insurance today to avoid paying extra at tax season. The CBO found that the deregulatory push in the GOP bill “would lower the actuarial value of plans in the nongroup market on average” – in other words, erode the quality of the coverage people buy. The high rates of insurance loss are “even larger than many analysts had predicted”, according to The Hill. The report predicts that in 2020, when states will be able to undo the recent ACA expansions of Medicaid eligibility, there will be 21 more uninsured Americans than if the ACA were still in place.

Which may explain why, at two different photo-ops today, Trump put space between himself and the plan, referring to it as a “big fat handsome negotiation”, and adding, “Hopefully we’ll come up with something that’s going to be really terrific”.

“This is not a serious health policy proposal, but rather a tax cut for the millionaires and corporations on the backs of the middle-class and low-income Americans”, said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. In an “illustrative example” provided by the CBO, a 64-year-old earning $26,500 per year receives the same tax credit of $4,900 to contribute to insurance costs as a 64 year old earning $68,200.

In an interview on “This Week”, Stephanopoulos pressed Mick Mulvaney over whether President Donald Trump was walking back his wildly ambitious campaign promises to repeal Obamacare while replacing it with a plan that offered more coverage at a cheaper price while not making cuts to Medicare or Medicaid. On March 6, they unveiled their bill.

The proposed law still provides federal funds for health care expenses, but changes the way that money is doled out.

Trump says the number of plans available to consumers will go up with changes to the law.

The CBO report projects an $880 million drop in Medicaid spending over the next decade if the AHCA is passed. Insurers would be allowed to add on a 30 percent premium surcharge for one year. Bill Cassidy, who is also a physician and released a separate health care bill earlier this year.

Those who earn too much to receive Obamacare subsidies would be better off.

Administration officials raced to microphones after details of the CBO report of the Trump-backed House measure hit the news wires, knowing that the budget experts’ analysis would diminish already-uncertain chances for Senate passage and hopes for a bill-signing before Easter.

Democratic lawmakers stressed that the analysis proved that millions of Americans will lose their coverage under Trumpcare. The report pegs much of this price inflation on the fact that millions of healthy, low-risk Americans would choose to forgo coverage.

Menendez said he knows at least five Republican colleagues who won’t vote for the current bill.

But not all Republicans were so thrilled with the news.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price criticized the report, telling reporters outside the White House that the CBO only looked at part of the new Republican health care plan.

The Democrats said White House criticism of the CBO report fits a disturbing pattern.