On March 13, the Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the GOP health care bill, warning that 14 million more people would be uninsured in 2018, a number that would increase to 24 million by 2026.
The CBO estimates are routinely recognized as the most authoritative basis for projecting the impact of legislation. The budget office did not address increased mortality, but the best estimates from past studies indicate that more than 1,000 additional deaths will result for every one million people without insurance.
“The reductions in insurance coverage between 2018 and 2026 would stem in large part from changes in Medicaid enrollment,” the report said. “In 2026, an estimated 52 million people would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law.”
CBO also found that $880 billion would be cut from Medicaid by 2026 and 15 percent of Planned Parenthood patients would lose access to care. A 64-year-old making $26,500 would pay $14,600 for insurance in 2026, compared to $1,700 under Obamacare.
“If you’re looking at the CBO for accuracy, you’re looking in the wrong place,” said White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, the week before, in a desperate preemptive attack
But GOP attacks on the office failed to unify behind Trump once the report was announced.
“I’m pretty encouraged,” Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters. “It actually exceeded my expectations.”
Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price stood out by continuing the attacks.
“We strenuously disagree with the report,” said Price, attacking the 14 million figure as “unbelievable.”
When Price was chairman of the House Budget Committee, he was deeply involved in selecting CBO’s director, Keith Hall, in 2015. Presumably, Price believed in Hall’s analytical judgment at the time.