Reed cites new report to denounce GOP plan to overhaul Obamacare

March 14--U.S. Senator Jack Reed denounced House Republicans' plan to overhaul the state Affordable Care Act, citing a newly released Congressional Budget Offices report that estimated the GOP plan could cause as many as 24 million Americans to lose health insurance.

"This CBO report offers further evidence that Trumpcare is the wrong prescription for America's health care system," Reed said in a statement. "This is even worse than most Republicans worried, and I hope it will cause thoughtful members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to thoroughly examine this non-partisan analysis."

The CBO report offered estimates of the budgetary impacts of the proposed GOP plan, the American Health Care Act. In 2018, the CBO reported, 14 million more people would be uninsured under the plan, mostly due to repealing the penalties associated with the individual coverage mandate. Some of those people who currently have coverage only to avoid paying penalties would not renew their plans, the report said, while others would forgo coverage in response to higher premiums.

By 2020, as subsidies shrink for insurance purchased in the non-group market and through Medicaid, the insurance program for the poor, the CBO projects the number of uninsured would rise to 21 million, and then to 24 million by 2026.

The CBO said reductions in insurance coverage between 2018 and 2026 would stem largely from changes in Medicaid enrollment, as some states discontinue their expansion of eligibility and other states that would have expanded eligibility in the future decline to do so, as well as the proposed cap on per-enrollee Medicaid spending.

By 2026, the report said, an estimated 52 million people would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would be uninsured if the current law, known as Obamacare, remained in effect.

The CBO report also acknowledges that out-of-pocket costs and deductibles will increase.

"Costs will rise for millions of Americans," Reed said, "and the federal government, comparatively, will save very little, while the cost burden is shifted to states."

Reed urged Republicans to scrap the GOP plan saying, "Trumpcare is a bad deal for Americans and a steal for the insurance industry."

He urged Republicans to work with Democrats to improve the Affordable Care Act.

larditi@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @LynnArditi

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