Obamacare coverage assertion has point

Because of the failure to pass a repeal bill, “Obamacare remains the law of the land ... This means more than 300,000 Georgians below the poverty line will still not have access to the insurance Obamacare promised.” — U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., on July 28 in a statement

The data we found showed Perdue correctly stated that even with Obamacare, 300,000 Georgians below the poverty line can’t get insurance.

Experts say the Republican replacement bills would not have solved this problem but would have made it worse. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 309,000 people in Georgia are in the “coverage gap” — with income above current Medicaid eligibility but below the lower limit for premium tax credits for plans purchased on the ACA’s online marketplaces. The independent Congressional Budget Office estimated the deductible for a typical plan under the Senate bill would be $6,000, likely making it “unaffordable for a person with income under the poverty level,” one expert said. For the House bill, the CBO estimated that a low-income older person “could face net premiums in the range of $13,600 to $16,100, even after accounting the tax credits available.”

The CBO concluded that the Senate bill would leave 22 million fewer Americans insured by 2026 than current law and the House

bill would see 23 million fewer insured. As for Georgia, the Senate bill would have increased the number of uninsured Georgians by 376,000 in 2022, according to

ananalysis by the Urban Institute.

Our ruling

Perdue has a point: Even with Obamacare, 300,000 Georgians below the poverty line can’t get insurance. However, in the context of decrying the failure of the Republican bills to advance in Congress, this observation is misleading. While the Senate and House bills would have offered tax credits to the

poor, independent analystsagree those tax credits wouldn’t open the door to affordable insurance.

We rate the statement Half True.

NEW YORK TIMES Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., (right) noted that under Obamacare, 300,000 Georgians do not have access to insurance. However, analyses show GOP proposals could have increased that number.