US health care plan leaves 24m uninsured

WASHINGTON: The proposed replacement for America’s current government health care plan would save money through 2026, but could leave 24 million people without insurance, according to a government agency tasked with performing costbenefit analyses of proposals.

The report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), supported by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, said in its Monday report that the proposed replacement to existing health care law — commonly known as Obamacare, after former president Barack Obama — would save 337 billion dollars in government spending between 2017 and 2026.

The savings would come primarily in reduced spending for Medicaid, an assistance programme for low-income families, and an end to subsidised health insurance, two of the hallmarks of Obama’s policy. It notes that new costs would be incurred by a new tax credit for health insurance.

Those changes mean that, by 2018, 14 million more people would be without insurance than if existing legislation was allowed to remain in place. That figure grows to 21 million by 2020 and 24 million by 2026, the CBO reported.

That growth in the number of the uninsured stems from the fact that states, which manage key parts of Medicaid, would likely reduce eligibility without the federal support that comes with Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act. “In 2026, an estimated 52 million would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law,” said the report. — dpa