Jack Mitchell, Director of Health Policy, National Center for Health Research, on behalf of Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund: June 26, 2017
The Senate’s health bill would result in 22 million Americans losing health coverage in the coming decade.
This is no joke. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) came out with their report on the bill today, making it clear that the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 will result in much worse, not better, health care for Americans.
The CBO produces unbiased reports of the effects proposed legislation would have on the American population. It is strictly nonpartisan and objective.
Tell me more about the bill
In its current form, over time the bill will:
- Devastate Medicaid: it would reduce/deny health care to millions of poor and elderly, and it will leave states with unsustainable costs passed along by the federal government
- Change what’s considered essential to your health: States would be permitted to change or determine what qualifies as an essential health benefit. This would be life-threatening to many patients and create confusion and inequality throughout the health care system.
- Result in higher premiums and co-pays for many Americans: because it does not include a requirement or any incentives for healthy Americans to buy health insurance. When healthier people don’t buy insurance, that increases the price of insurance for everyone who does buy it.
- Who Benefits? The CBO says the proposed legislation would save billions of dollars, but the GOP has made it clear that they will use that savings to reduce the taxes on the wealthiest Americans. It’s reverse Robin Hood: reduce healthcare for middle class and poorer Americans and use the savings to cut taxes to corporations and the richest Americans.
This legislation will unleash a slowly unwinding health care catastrophe.
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