Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its analysis of the Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The CBO confirms that like the House-passed health bill (AHCA), the Senate bill (Better Care Reconciliation Act or BCRA) would result in millions of people losing coverage, end the Medicaid expansion and the Medicaid program as we know it, and increase premiums and out-of-pocket costs for many of those who purchase insurance on their own - especially low-income people and older people.
It also shows that small changes and revisions will not fix this bill. The Senate cannot undo these harmful effects without completely revamping the bill's entire structure -- namely the Senate bill's deep cuts to Medicaid that pay for tax breaks for the wealthy, pharmaceutical companies, and insurers.
Impact:
After AHCA was passed by the House, many Senators went on record to claim they opposed it and that the Senate would start over and draft a "better" bill. The CBO score shows that the Senate has made no real improvements:
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Under the Senate bill the number of uninsured would rise by 15 million people next year, and by 19 million people in 2020, relative to current law.
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This number would rise over the next decade and by 2026 there would be 22 million more uninsured Americans, relative to current law.
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Under the ACA, the uninsured rate has fallen to a historic low of 9%. CBO finds that by 2026, nearly all of the coverage gains experienced under the ACA would be eliminated and the uninsured rate among the non-elderly would rise almost to its 2010 level, before the ACA took effect.
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The Senate bill would end the Medicaid expansion and end Medicaid as we know it - slashing federal Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next 10 years and causing 15 million people to lose Medicaid coverage.
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CBO finds that the Senate bill would take away coverage from millions of low-income, vulnerable people to help pay for $570 billion in tax cuts primarily for the wealthiest Americans, as well as drug and insurance companies.
Now Senate Republicans are planning to rush this bill through with no time for Senators Kaine or Warner or the public to understand what's in it and how it will affect Virginians. And just like in the House, they are likely to make tiny changes right before they vote and claim to have solved major problems with the bill. But we won't be fooled.
Yesterday, Governor McAuliffe confirmed the devastating impact the Senate bill would have on Virginia's Medicaid program, already ranked 46th in per capita Medicaid spending. The Governor reported, "A preliminary analysis of the Senate's proposed "repeal and replace" bill ... shows the per capita caps in the proposal would cost Virginia's Medicaid program at least $1.4 billion over seven years. The per capita caps in the [Senate bill] affect almost every population covered by Medicaid..."
Action
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Call and THANK Senator Kaine and Senator Warner for strongly opposing the American Health Care Act adopted by the House of Representatives and this new Senate bill that is, in many ways, worse than the House bill: Senator Kaine:
202.224.4024 | Senator Warner:
202.224.2023
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Encourage our Senators to demand that the Senate delay a vote until there has been a CBO score of the final version of the bill the Senate votes on and adequate time for them and their constituents to understand how it will affect the people of Virginia.
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Urge colleagues, friends and family in other states to contact their Senators and ask them to oppose the Senate Republicans' health care bill. Key Senators to contact represent Alaska (Murkowski and Sullivan), Colorado (Gardner), Louisiana (Cassidy), Maine (Collins), Nevada (Heller), Ohio (Portman), and West Virginia (Capito).
