Ex-Clinton aide: CBO score ‘damning’ for GOP

The press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid says Republicans will be haunted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) projections about their ObamaCare replacement bill.

WH is not going to be able to whistle past these CBO findings. They are too damning for members who have to face reelection in ’18 to ignore

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) March 13, 2017

In recent days, GOP began saying its plan’s goal was not necessarily to cover everyone, but to cut costs. CBO now confirms it does neither

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) March 13, 2017

Fallon added that many House Republicans had already anchored themselves to their party’s controversial legislation in states Clinton won in last year’s election.

Whatever happens next, one-third of House Rs in districts won by Clinton in ’16 already voted for this version of Trumpcare in committee

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) March 13, 2017

The CBO on Monday estimated that the number of uninsured people would grow by 14 million in 2018 under the GOP’s ObamaCare replacement strategy.

{mosads}The congressional scorekeeper predicted that total would balloon to 24 million in a decade, an estimate larger than what many analysts predicted.

The report also found 7 million fewer people could be insured through their employers by 2026, with some choosing not to get coverage and some employers declining to offer it once ObamaCare’s individual and employer mandates are repealed.

Premiums in the individual market for health insurance would sharply increase before 2020 and then decrease after that, the CBO said.

The CBO added people’s out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles, would “tend to be higher” under the GOP bill rather than ObamaCare.

Tom Price, President Trump’s Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, blasted the CBO’s scorecard after its release Monday.

“We disagree strenuously with the report that was put out,” he said at the White House. “It’s virtually impossible to have that [14 million] number occur.”

“It’s just not believable, is what we would suggest,” the former medical doctor and Georgia congressman added.