A new report finds that the Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion over a decade but would also leave 24 million more Americans uninsured during that same period.
The uninsured estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office could create even greater political hurdles for the GOP bill. That legislation has already drawn opposition from major interest groups, health policy experts and even some GOP lawmakers. The bill's defenders are touting the lower premiums and deficits that the CBO estimated, but they are also facing questions about what to do about tens of millions of uninsured Americans.
More uninsured, due to Medicaid and mandate repeal
With the current law in place, the CBO estimates, the uninsured count for 2017 would stand at around 26 million. In 2026, that number would remain barely changed under current law ā there would be 28 million uninsured Americans if the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, remained in place. That means the uninsured rate would tick up only slightly, from around 9.5 to 10 percent.
[For more of this story, written by Danielle Kurtzleben, go to http://www.npr.org/2017/03/13/...age-by-2026-cbo-says]
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