The CBO’s latest report estimates that 10.9 million people would be uninsured over the next decade if the sprawling spending package, which includes much of Trump’s legislative agenda, were enacted.
CBO found that the legislation, combined with the number of people who would lose insurance if Congress fails to extend ACA subsidies that help people afford insurance coverage, would result in 16 million people losing insurance. If accurate, it would be the largest loss of health care coverage in U.S. history
According to the report, roughly 8 million people would lose Medicaid coverage due to strict work requirements and the added eligibility checks.
About 1.4 million people without verified citizenship, nationality or satisfactory immigration status would also be ejected from state-funded health programs as the bill would enact new restrictions on how states provide insurance for immigrants without permanent legal status.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called it “shocking House Republicans rushed to vote on this bill without an accounting from CBO on the millions of people who will lose their health care or the trillions of dollars it would add to the national debt.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) downplayed the CBO’s findings, saying Wednesday, “When it comes time to make prognostications on economic growth, they’ve always been wrong.”
While work requirements remain popular among GOP lawmakers, a handful of Senate Republicans are staunchly opposed to Medicaid cuts, a politically fraught endeavor. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) fell into hot water last week defending those cuts, telling a crowd at a town hall, “Well, we’re all going to die.” She later doubled down amid criticism.
