GOP claims number of insured won’t go down with AHCA

HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL /

Depending on which outside analyst you ask, between 6 million and 15 million people would probably lose insurance coverage if the Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act passes Congress and is signed into law.

Or, actually, let’s revise that. Depending on whom you ask in Republican leadership, the real number is more like zero — or, perhaps, negative: People will gain coverage under the proposal.

As part of the Republican push for the American Health Care Act, administration officials joined the Sunday political talk shows to offer their thoughts about the future of coverage. With analysis of the American Health Care Act from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office looming, the officials’ predictions about the effects of the bill were far rosier than the analysis offered by the Brookings Institution (15 million losing coverage over 10 years) or Standard & Poor’s (6 million to 10 million by 2024). Here’s what they said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price: Coverage will increase. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Price offered his vision for what success of the bill looked like.

“Success, it’s important to look at that,” he said. “It means more people covered than are covered right now at an average cost that is less. I believe that we can firmly do that with the plan that we’ve laid out there.”

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan: People will make their own choices. Ryan appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” with John Dickerson. After Ryan, R-Wis., offered his prediction that the Congressional Budget Office would estimate that coverage would drop, Dickerson asked how many people the speaker thought might lose coverage.

“I can’t answer that question. It’s up to people,” he said. “Here’s the premise of your question. Are you going to stop mandating people buy health insurance? People are going to do what they want to do with their lives because we believe in individual freedom in this country.”

Budget Director Mick Mulvaney: Coverage isn’t the important thing. On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked Mulvaney repeatedly whether Trump’s pledge to cover everybody could be upheld. Mulvaney demurred, instead insisting that the coverage itself would be more affordable. “It helps people get health care instead of just coverage,” he said.