23M more uninsured under GOP health bill; CBO analysis finds older, sicker residents to be hurt
The report likely will complicate
According to the CBO, the bill would cause 23 million fewer people to have health insurance by 2026. Many additional consumers would see skimpier coverage and higher deductibles.
The report further undermines claims by President
"Over time, it would become more difficult for less healthy people (including people with pre-existing medical conditions) in those states to purchase insurance," the report notes.
Insurance markets in states that dropped Obamacare's protections would become unstable after 2020, the budget office warned.
Health care advocates seized on the report to criticize the House bill. "The
The report updates an analysis the budget office did in March of the original version of the legislation developed by
But the revisions did not fundamentally change the structure of the bill or its impact, budget analysts concluded.
The American Health Care Act, as it is called, cuts more than
The bill also fundamentally restructures the system of insurance marketplaces created by Obamacare to guarantee health coverage to Americans, even if they are sick. Obamacare extended coverage to more than 20 million previously uninsured Americans. The law drove the nation's uninsured rate to the lowest levels ever recorded.
The Republican measure
would scale back the subsidies that the current law makes available to help people who don't get coverage through an employer afford to buy insurance. And states would be given new flexibility to scrap protections in the current law. Those include the ban on insurers charging sick people more and the requirements that all health plans cover a basic set of benefits, including mental health, prescription drugs and maternity care.
The budget office projected that average premiums for those who buy their own coverage would be lower in some states after 2020 than under Obamacare, an estimate hailed by
"It is another positive step toward keeping our promise to repeal and replace Obamacare," House Speaker
But the decrease would be driven largely by more people having plans that cover fewer benefits and shift more costs on consumers, budget analysts wrote.
Older and poorer Americans would also see higher premiums or lose coverage altogether.
For example, under the House bill, a 64-year-old single American with an income of
By contrast, a similar consumer who is 21 would see his or her premiums decrease from
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Casey: American Health Care Act ‘morally bankrupt’
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