Republicans are ramping up their war on the American middle class and the poor by dropping a whopping 18 million people from insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The numbers are staggering and suggest the GOP won’t keep its promise of an “orderly transition,” leaving the sick to fend for themselves.
The Congressional Budget Office just issued a report on the effects of a Republican effort to repeal Obamacare immediately but delay its replacement for two years.
Within the first year, 18 million people would lose insurance, the CBO predicts. In addition, premiums for people buying coverage on their own would increase, on average, by 20 to 25 percent relative to what they would be if the Affordable Care Act remained in place.
And that’s just the short-term effects that a “repeal-and-delay” strategy would have. As The Huffington Post states, once Obamacare’s tax credits and Medicaid expansion expired fully, the CBO says, millions more could lose insurance and premiums would rise yet again.
Ultimately, the CBO concludes, 32 million more people would be uninsured and premiums would be twice as high ― again, relative to what they would be if Obamacare stayed on the books.
Republican leaders dismissed the report as “meaningless” because the CBO’s estimate doesn’t consider the possibility that Republicans would replace President Barack Obama’s health care law with something else.
“This projection is meaningless, as it takes into account no measures to replace the law nor actions that the incoming administration will take to revitalize the individual market that has been decimated by Obamacare,” AshLee Strong, spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), said on Tuesday.
However, the GOP has not settled on an alternative to Obamacare even though it’s been promising one for nearly seven years, and it remains deeply divided over fundamental questions about the government’s role in healthcare.
At this point, any scheme that could get through the Republican Congress is likely to cover far fewer people or provide far less financial protection for people with insurance, given the GOP’s desire to cut federal spending on health care dramatically.
