Healthcare

CBO: Trumpcare 2.0 Will Increase Uninsured by 23 Million

Written by SK Ashby

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has finally released their report on the latest version of Trumpcare that, among other things, will cut Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars and repeal essential health benefits.

According to the CBO, 14 million people could lose their coverage next year alone and 23 million fewer will be insured in nine years.

CBO and JCT estimate that, in 2018, 14 million more people would be uninsured under H.R. 1628 than under current law. 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. In 2026, an estimated 51 million people under age 65 would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law. Under the legislation, a few million of those people would use tax credits to purchase policies that would not cover major medical risks.

The CBO also estimates that approximately one-sixth of the entire country lives in states that would no longer require insurers to cover pre-existing conditions.

About one-sixth of the population resides in states that would obtain waivers involving both the EHBs and community rating and that would allow premiums to be set on the basis of an individual’s health status in a substantial portion of the nongroup market, CBO and JCT anticipate.

Amazingly, even though the latest version of the GOP bill is worse than previous version in terms of coverage, the new version results in less deficit reduction.

Personal premiums would also increase by 20 percent over the next two years.

You can read the full CBO report here and we'll probably have more details in the coming days.