ACA/Obamacare Repeal/Replace Drama

[Belsnickel]

Now, most of the initial 14 million that will lose insurance will do so voluntarily. By removing the mandate, the GOP is going to give an out to those that had insurance simply to avoid paying it. These people were ones that were on insurance reluctantly already. This is something a lot of liberal leaning commentators are ignoring from the CBO report. The conservative leaning commentators are also leaving something out by pointing this out, though, and that is that we will be putting those people back on the list of those that increase the health care costs in general because of their inability to pay. So it is not inaccurate to say we will be essentially going back to the days before the ACA, but we are forgetting how reluctant some of these people were to begin with.

Washington Post did a piece on a number that was in the more lengthy report from the CBO: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/14/this-may-be-the-most-brutal-number-in-the-cbo-report/?utm_term=.8d3981f2a081

Quote:Plenty has been made of the big Congressional Budget Office finding that 24 million people could lose their insurance under Republicans' Obamacare replacement over the next decade. That's higher than expected and poses a clear and massive hurdle for Republicans as they attempt to convince dozens of skeptical members.

But there's another number that paints a particularly dire picture for the GOP's alternative — especially in light of President Trump's populist rhetoric.

According to the CBO, 64-year olds making $26,500 per year would see their premiums increase by an estimated 750 percent by 2026. While they are on track to pay $1,700 under the current law, the CBO projects the American Health Care Act would force them to pay $14,600. Even if you grant that inflation will allow them to make slightly more money by 2026, that's still about half of their income going to health care.

The article goes on and there are some charts and things after that to illustrate the point. Definitely an interesting twist to this all.