Everyone Will Be Covered (Except For 24 Million)

In a long-awaited report released Monday, congressional tax and budget analysts estimated that the measure – dubbed the American Health Care Act – would eventually cut federal spending significantly and lower insurance premiums for many younger consumers.

CBO and JCT estimate that, in 2018, 14 million more people would be uninsured under the legislation than under current law.

The forecast did attribute coverage losses to the repeal of the ACA’s mandates, noting that eliminating the penalties associated with the ACA’s requirement to buy insurance would reduce federal revenues starting this year, but it would also contribute to lower coverage numbers and to higher premiums in the non-group insurance market.

Republicans who have downplayed the CBO’s role point out that the office overestimated by several million the number of people who would sign up for insurance through the Obamacare marketplaces.

A projected 14 million more people would go uninsured in 2018 under the GOP law compared to Obamacare, mostly because would of the repeal of the latter’s individual mandate penalties.

The report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office underscores the major disruption the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress would inflict on America’s health care markets, quickly reversing Democrats’ strides toward universal health care.

Republicans are painting the CBO estimates as an incomplete analysis, saying the American Health Care Act will not saddle people with insurance they can not afford.

The Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders will need to balance these benefits against the reality that some moderates can not be won over without changes to the law created to boost coverage.

Democrats and some influential Republicans say the legislation to replace Obamacare would rip health insurance away from millions of Americans and increase costs for many others. Instead, the GOP plan places a provision to encourage non-stop coverage, hitting people with a 30 percent surcharge on premiums if they bought insurance after going two months or more without it. In too many ways, it is the cruelest of jokes on millions of people who can least afford to be a punchline.

A misfire on the Republican healthcare legislation could hobble Donald Trump’s presidency.

If anxious members were hoping the CBO score might temper Republican leadership’s plans to push the bill forward, they’d be wrong.

The largest savings will be achieved from reductions in outlays of Medicaid and removal of subsidies for non-group health insurance. And I said it once, I’ll say it again, because Obama is gone, you know: Thing are going to be very bad for the people with Obamacare.

Congressman Tom MacArthur said he’s still evaluating the replacement plan’s impact but discussed it with Health Secretary Tom Price last week. Hard-line House Republicans already began balking Tuesday as they read the plan’s details. “We are not going to have one-size-fits-all”, Mr Trump said. Are you going to stop mandating people buy health insurance? Now, the government subsidies and the Republican plan are, on balance, less generous than in Obamacare, especially for the poor and older people. By 2026, that disparity would grow to 24 million, calculates the CBO, meaning 52 million people will not have coverage. Spicer said the Republicans’ bill won’t be forced on anyone, and it will go through the normal legislative process so that everyone can provide input and make amendments.