Post by bot on May 28, 2017 20:35:02 GMT -5
CBO Confirms TrumpCare Would Kick Millions Off Coverage, Force Others to Pay More for Less
Yesterday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released an updated score of the TrumpCare bill, which House Republicans passed before knowing the consequences. According to the CBO, the bill would:
•Kick 23 million Americans off coverage by 2026, including 14 million by 2018, when premiums are expected to increase by 20% more than under current law.
•Discriminate against Americans with pre-existing conditions, who will face higher costs and will be ultimately unable to afford health care coverage.
•Effectively bring back annual and lifetime limits on coverage.
•Impose on ‘age tax’ on older Americans between the ages of 50 and 64, who will see their premiums increase.
•Destabilize insurance markets, with one-sixth of the population living in areas in which the individual market would become unstable in 2020.
•Eliminate essential benefits in many parts of the country, including hospitalization, prescription drugs, mental health and substance abuse, maternity care, and more.
•Raise premiums for low-income older Americans by 800 percent in states requesting TrumpCare waivers.
•Drain the Medicare Trust Fund.
Health care provider organizations and patient advocates agree that the TrumpCare bill passed by House Republicans will harm Americans:
Dr. Andrew Gurman, President of the American Medical Association: “Today's estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office show that last-minute changes to the AHCA made by the House offered no real improvements.” [CNBC, 5/24/17]
Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President of AARP: “AARP reiterates our strong opposition to the harmful bill passed by the House... The CBO analysis found that premiums would go up to unaffordable levels by inflicting an Age Tax and removing current protections for people with common conditions including diabetes and weight gain. Putting a greater financial burden on older Americans is not the way to solve the problems in our health care system.” [Statement, 5/24/17]
And editorial boards are slamming TrumpCare for kicking Americans off coverage and destabilizing insurance markets:
Washington Post: The CBO report proves the GOP health-care bill is no rescue plan
“Republicans sold the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan that the House passed last month, with a number of untruths, chief among them that Obamacare is collapsing and the GOP effort is nothing short of a rescue plan. The Congressional Budget Office, Congress’s official scorekeeper, found Wednesday that the Republicans’ bill is no such thing. Not only would it result in 23 million more people lacking health insurance in a decade, but it would destabilize some states’ individual health-care insurance markets for all but relatively healthy people.”
USA Today: Republican health care bill indicted, again
“By next year, 14 million fewer people would have health insurance. Within a decade, 23 million fewer people would be covered. Perhaps that bears repeating. If the House GOP health care bill were to become law, about 7% of the U.S. population would be added to the ranks of the uninsured. Many of these people would lose coverage because the bill savages Medicaid.”
It’s time for Republicans to abandon TrumpCare and stop their efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. Republicans own the health care system and if they want to improve health care access and affordability, they must work with Democrats to strengthen the law.