One deadly diagnosis

So eager were they to get back-slapped by the President, House Republicans voted to pass their repeal-and-replace American Health Care Act earlier this month before the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the bill’s impact was ready. Now we see why members of the supposed party of caution and fiscal responsibility put on blindfolds before leaping.

According to the CBO’s rigorous and nonpartisan projections, if the AHCA becomes law, 51 million Americans under age 65 will be uninsured by 2026 — that’s 23 million more than if Obamacare remains in place.

In January, President Trump promised “insurance for everybody.” Touting the passage of what he called the “great plan” this month, he pledged that “premiums will be coming down.”

According to the CBO, premiums under the AHCA would jump an average of 20% as compared to current law in 2018, and by 5% in 2019.

In states that accept AHCA’s waivers and let insurance companies charge people with preexisting conditions more, premiums for low-income elderly Americans could jump as much as 800%.

Yep: Under current law, the net annual premium for a 64-year-old individual making $26,000 is $1,700. Under the AHCA? $13,600.

Trump, in April, promised his bill would “beautifully” protect already-ill people who try to buy insurance. The amendments that narrowly got the bill passed threw a few billion dollars at states to cover people with preexisting conditions.

The CBO says these Americans would over time “be unable to purchase comprehensive nongroup health insurance at premiums comparable to those under current law, if they could purchase it at all.”

A message in no uncertain terms for Congress to ditch the dead-end fantasy they’ll repeal and replace Obamacare — and get to work fixing it.