Budget chief says CBO is wrong on health care

This will mean a greater financial burden for the state of Alaska, and/or less health care coverage for some of the most vulnerable people in our state.

Both Mulvaney and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price criticized parts of the CBO analysis.

President Trump promised on the campaign trail to repeal and replace Obamacare.

We’re sure that opponents – Democrats and conservative Republicans among them – will marshal these CBO numbers as reasons to scuttle this bill or, conversely, to have it destroy all things Obamacare. Obamacare’s most successful way to getting new health insurance enrollees was the provision that expanded Medicaid to include any adult living under 138 percent of the federal poverty level – an income of $27,821 for a family of three in 2016. See “Budget Office Report on ACA Replacement Sparks Partisan Reaction” (March 13). The plan weakens this regulation, and allows insurers to charge five times more to older Americans. “But when we get the CBO score, we’ll deal with that”, Cohn said.

The Trump administration’s criticisms of the CBO are unusual.

The American Medical Association on Monday came out strongly against the Republican bill, based on the CBO findings, saying the outcomes it predicted were “unacceptable”. In fact, 58 percent of respondents to a Gallup poll favor replacing the Affordable Care Act – IF it’s replaced with “a federally funded health care program providing insurance for all Americans”.

At the same time, the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion by 2026 – because of less government spending. Currently, that tax brings in $26 billion a year.

A total of 12.2 million Americans enrolled in a plan through one of the healthcare law’s marketplaces during the 2017 open enrollment period, according to the report, which provides a final tally of this year’s sign-ups. But CBO concluded that once the employer and individual mandates for not carrying insurance are removed, some two million Americans will drop out of work-related coverage.

This is one of the problems that caused many plans to leave the Affordable Care Act market exchanges, notes Public Affairs Director Jennifer Walsh with the law firm of Foley & Lardner in Washington, DC.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Republican plan’s top backer in Congress, said he was “certain” the CBO would show a reduction in the number of Americans with coverage. And if he does that, you know, he won’t take our health insurance. He said the plan would be “terrific”.

Tucker says Republican promises of more choice under the new plan aren’t enough.