23 million fewer insured under Republican health bill
WASHINGTON: The new Republican health care bill approved by the House of Representatives will leave 23 million fewer Americans insured by 2026 if it becomes law, a congressional forecast reported Wednesday.
That figure is just one million fewer than the 24 million people losing or dropping insurance under a previous version of the bill backed by President Donald Trump.
The legislation was redrafted in an effort to minimize the impact of Republican efforts to change the current Affordable Care Act which became law in 2010.
"The increase in the number of uninsured people relative to the number projected under current law would reach 19 million in 2020 and 23 million in 2026," the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said, in a highly-anticipated report.
The reforms would reduce the federal deficit over the same period by some $119 billion -- $32 billion less than the estimated net savings in the previous version of the bill, CBO reported.
Several Republican lawmakers have expressed concern about the House plan's rollback of Medicaid, limited assistance for low-income Americans, and a provision that allows insurers to increase health premiums for people with pre-existing conditions -- a practice the current law prohibits.