The White House disputed the CBO scoring of the GOP tax cut masquerading as a healthcare bill, saying that the headline of 24 million people losing their health insurance is way wrong.
They’re right; their own estimates are that even more people will lose out.
A White House analysis of the GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare shows even steeper coverage losses than the projections by the Congressional Budget Office, according to a document viewed by POLITICO on Monday.
[…]
White House officials late Monday night disputed that the document is an analysis of the bill’s coverage effects. Instead, they say it was an attempt by the OMB to predict what CBO’s scorekeepers would conclude about the GOP repeal plan.
“This is not an analysis of the bill in any way whatsoever,” White House Communications Director Michael Dubke told POLITICO. “This is OMB trying to project what CBO’s score will be using CBO’s methodology.”
According to documents viewed by POLITICO, the OMB analysis intended to assess the coverage and spending outcomes of the legislation.
The analysis found that under the American Health Care Act, the coverage losses would include 17 million for Medicaid, 6 million in the individual market and 3 million in employer-based plans.
A total of 54 million individuals would be uninsured in 2026 under the GOP plan, according to this White House analysis. That’s nearly double the number projected under current law.
So when the White House ran the numbers using the CBO methods, it made it worse. Oops.
At some point even they will have to admit that this attempt at repeal-and-replace for Obamacare is a bomb that won’t make it through Congress.
The much-maligned Obamacare replacement bill will face its biggest test so far on Thursday, as a House of Representatives committee filled with conservatives could derail the legislation backed by Speaker Paul Ryan before it gets to the House floor.
If four Republicans join Democrats in voting against the bill in the House Budget Committee, the legislation will fail.
Okay, fellas, what’s Plan B?
Why is it that the media are using the bill’s name or AHCA instead of Trumpcare or Ryancare? They were quick to adopt the Republican labeling or the ACA as Obamacare.
The plan is to get it through the House, wipe their hands and say “See? We did what we promised” and that will be the end of it because no way will the Senate approve it. Job done.
Republican Insurance Plan, aka RIP