Health

The Government just Revealed Who is Most Vulnerable Under TrumpCare

May 24th 2017

Well, it's official. The Congressional Budget Office's cost analysis of the AHCA's impact is finally here and Americans concerned about losing their healthcare have cause for alarm. 

The report revealed some unsettling details about the cost of Trumpcare.

The CBO score, which you may remember as the report that House Republicans didn't bother to wait on before they voted to pass the bill, estimates that 23 million people will lose their health insurance under the ACHA. If you're keeping score, that's almost seven percent of the entire U.S. population. According to the New York Times, "It would reduce the federal deficit by $119 billion over a decade, less than the $150 billion in savings projected in late March for an earlier version of the bill."  And as NPR reported, the "biggest savings would come from Medicaid, which serves low-income Americans. That program would face $884 billion in cuts."

It also gave specific indications of which people would be hit hardest by Trumpcare. 

Tucked inside the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's report on the new Republican healthcare bill was information about who might be most affected by its changes to the Affordable Care Act. 

The new bill will allow individual states to use 'waivers' to opt out of certain Obamacare rules. According to Politifact, this means states could choose to opt out of the 'essential health benefits' provision in the ACA that "requires maternity care or mental health services." So, while the ACA mandated that insurance companies provide certain services, called essential health benefits—or EHBs, the new bill would allow states to redefine what constitutes an EHB. And the services most likely to be on the chopping block? "...maternity care, mental health and substance abuse benefits, rehabilitative and habilitative services, and pediatric dental benefits," said the CBO report. 

The costs of these services could increase by thousands of dollars. 

If insurers are no longer required to cover these EHBs, many people will be forced to pay out of pocket. The CBO noted that mental health services, substance abuse services, and maternity care will be particularly expensive. 

"Out of pocket spending on maternity care and mental health and substance abuse services could increase by thousands of dollars in a given year for the nongroup enrollees who would use those services," the report states. Judging by this analysis, it looks like the GOP has little interest in protecting women, those with substance abuse problems, or the mentally ill from high healthcare costs. 

But the bill hasn't passed the senate yet. 

And the reveal of the CBO score isn't going to make things easier. As Reuters noted, the report is "a sobering figure for Senate Republicans as they mull action." So for now, passing the bill remains far from a sure thing. As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday about garnering the votes needed to pass the bill, "I don't know how we get to 50 at the moment. But that's the goal."

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