CBO Estimates Senate Bill Would Leave 22M More Uninsured
From Akin Gump:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this afternoon released its cost estimate of the Senate’s health care bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), projecting that the legislation would increase the number of uninsured by 22 million in 2026 relative to the number under current law. This is slightly fewer than the number of uninsured estimated for the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA). CBO also estimates that the BCRA would reduce federal deficits by $321 billion over 10 years, $202 billion more than estimated net savings for the House bill.
According to the Senate Budget Committee, below is a brief summary of the changes that were made to the previous draft:
- Conforming amendments to Sec. 106 – Changes made to better align the purposes of stability funding to the underlying CHIP statute.
- Adds a new Sec. 206 – Starting in 2019, individuals who had a break in continuous insurance coverage for 63 days or more in the prior year will be subject to a six month waiting period before coverage begins. Consumers will not have to pay premiums during the six month period.
- Redesignates Secs. 206-208 to Secs. 207-209, to accommodate for the new Sec. 206 on continuous coverage.