Care? Less!
Plan boots 23M off insurance, ravages marts
WASHINGTON — Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare with a replacement bill that passed the House would result in 23 million fewer people with health insurance coverage over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report Wednesday.
House Republicans voted on the bill on May 4 without waiting for an official analysis of what its impact would be — ramming through the legislation by a narrow 217-213 margin.
The nonpartisan CBO released its latest analysis, finding that the newest version would reduce federal spending by a net $119 billion after most of the savings from eliminating Medicaid coverage would be wiped out by big tax breaks.
The CBO’s score of the original bill back in March found that 24 million fewer people would have health insurance a decade after it dropped, a staggering figure that hurt that bill’s chances.
Democrats are already campaigning hard against vulnerable Republicans who voted for the bill, which President Trump supports. care and addiction recovery, which would insurance companies would no longer be required to cover.
“Services or benefits likely to be excluded . . . in some states include maternity care, mental health and substance abuse benefits, rehabilitative and habilitative services, and pediatric dental benefits. In particular, out-of-pocket spending on maternity care and mental health and substance abuse services could increase by thousands of dollars in a given year for the nongroup enrollees who would use those services,” the report says.
Democrats used the CBO report to take aim at the bill.
“The report makes clear Trumpcare would be a cancer on the American health care system, causing costs to skyrocket,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
“This report ought to be the final nail in the coffin of the Republicans’ effort to sabotage our health care system.”
But the report is another headache for the House Republicans who voted for the bill — and yet another reason why Senate Republicans aren’t likely to pass anything like it.