Uninsured ranks still to grow by tens of millions under latest House health-care bill, CBO says
Source: Washington Post
Health-care legislation adopted by House Republicans earlier this month would leave 23 million more Americans uninsured by 2026 than under current law, the Congressional Budget Office projected Wednesday — only a million fewer than the estimate for the House’s previous bill.
The nonpartisan agency’s finding, which drew immediate fire from Democrats, patient advocates, health industry officials and some business groups, is likely to complicate Republicans’ push to pass a companion bill in the Senate.
The new score, which reflects a series of last-minute revisions that Republicans made to win over several conservative lawmakers and a handful of moderates, calculates that the American Health Care Act would reduce the federal deficit by $119 billion between 2017 and 2026. That represents a smaller reduction than the $150 billion CBO estimated in late March, largely because House leaders provided more money in their final bill to offset costs for consumers with expensive medical conditions and included language that could translate to greater federal spending on health insurance subsidies.
As Republican senators quickly distanced themselves from the updated numbers, what became apparent is the difficult balancing act congressional leaders face as they seek to rewrite large portions of the Affordable Care Act. Some GOP senators are eager to soften portions of the House bill, including cuts to entitlement programs and provisions that would allow insurers in individual states to offer fewer benefits in their health plans or to charge consumers with costly medical conditions higher premiums.
Read more: Link to sourcehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/uninsured-ranks-still-to-grow-by-tens-of-millions-under-latest-house-health-care-bill-cbo-says/2017/05/24/81a42648-40b0-11e7-8c25-44d09ff5a4a8_story.html?utm_term=.dd1ff803e81c
= new reply since forum marked as read
