Republicans brace for downbeat CBO analysis of health bill
Published 9:09 am Monday, March 13, 2017
WASHINGTON — Republicans pushing a plan to dismantle Barack Obama’s health care law are bracing for a Congressional Budget Office analysis widely expected to conclude that fewer Americans will have health coverage under the proposal, despite President Donald Trump’s promise of “insurance for everybody.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he fully expects the CBO analysis, set to be released as early as Monday, to find less coverage since the GOP plan eliminates the government requirement to be insured.
But Ryan and Trump administration officials vowed to move forward on their proposed “repeal and replace” plan, insisting they can work past GOP disagreements and casting the issue as one of “choice” in which consumers are freed of a government mandate to buy insurance.
“What we’re trying to achieve here is bringing down the cost of care, bringing down the cost of insurance not through government mandates and monopolies but by having more choice and competition,” Ryan, R-Wis., said on Sunday. “We’re not going to make an American do what they don’t want to do.”
The CBO’s long-awaited cost analysis of the House GOP leadership plan, including estimates on the number of people expected to be covered, will likely affect Republicans’ chances of passing the proposal.