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Report: Latest health care bill draft reduces federal deficit by an extra $100 billion, still leaves 22 million more uninsured

Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
CongressHealth Care
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A nonpartisan analysis has projected that 22 million Americans will still lose health insurance by 2026 under the latest draft of the now-dead Senate Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which Republican Sen. Dean Heller still has yet to take a position on.

The report released by the Congressional Budget Office on Thursday projects that estimated effects of the legislation on health insurance coverage and premiums will be similar to those it projected in a June report on an earlier draft of the bill. But the new draft of the legislation will lead to greater cost savings for the federal government over the next 10 years, reducing the federal deficit by $420 billion compared to the $321 billion projected in the earlier report.

The new draft will cut federal spending on Medicaid by $756 billion, $16 billion less than the projected cuts to the program under the earlier version of the bill.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller told reporters on Thursday morning that he is still undecided on how he will vote on a motion to proceed on health care legislation next week, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to do. Senate Republicans can only afford to lose two of their members for the legislation to move forward, but four Republicans have said they would oppose such a vote on the current draft of the so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) and Sen. John McCain of Arizona is away being treated for cancer.

It is unclear whether Republicans will have the votes to take any action on health care next week, with a group of Senate Republicans meeting late Wednesday night to try and work through the issue. Republicans do not appear to have the votes either to pass the current draft of the BCRA or repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety.

A full repeal of the ACA is estimated to leave an additional 32 million Americans uninsured and to double premiums, the CBO projected yesterday. Heller voted for a similar bill to repeal the ACA in 2015 when it was guaranteed a veto by President Barack Obama.

Heller has said previously that he could not support legislation that strips Medicaid away from Nevadans, threatens access to health care in the state and could result in millions losing coverage without promising to reducing health care costs. To top it off, Heller is unlikely to support legislation opposed by Gov. Brian Sandoval, the first Republican governor in the nation to expand the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act.

“Barring significant changes from the Congressional Budget Office, this bill will mean a loss of coverage for millions of Americans and many Nevadans,” Heller said at a June press conference, standing alongside Sandoval. “I’m telling you right now I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Nevadans.”

Trump continued his push for some sort of legislative action on health care at a lunch with senators on Wednesday, where he goaded Heller for wavering over the repeal-and-replace proposals. Heller appeared to initiate the exchange, laughing and whispering to Trump.

“Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn’t he? And I think the people of your state, which I know very well, I think they’re gonna appreciate what you hopefully will do,” Trump said. “Any senator who votes against starting debate is really telling America that you’re fine with Obamacare. But being fine with Obamacare isn’t enough for another reason. Because it’s gone. It’s failed. It’s not gonna be around.”

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