How Bad Is Trump’s Healthcare Bill? (And Why You Should Care)

 

 

Earlier this month, the Trump White House scored one of its first victories when it passed the American Health Care Act through the House of Representatives. They did so without a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score. The CBO score is an important indicator of the effect of a bill on the budget.

 

The CBO score has finally been released for the AHCA. Although Republicans repeatedly denied claims that millions will be left uninsured through the AHCA, it seems that those claims are true. The Congressional Budget Office found that 23 million people would lose their insurance over the next 10 years under AHCA. Older people with lower incomes would be especially negatively affected by this legislation. AHCA would reduce the deficit by $119 billion in the next 10 years but people with pre-existing conditions (which range from asthma to cancer and many in between) would “ultimately be unable to purchase comprehensive nongroup health insurance at premiums comparable to those under current law, if they could purchase it at all”, which is a fancy way of saying it would be hard as hell for people with pre-existing conditions to find affordable health insurance.

Trumpcare (AKA American Health Care Act) has not been signed into law yet – Obamacare (AKA the Affordable Care Act) is still the rule of law but Trumpcare has cleared one hurdle already. The House of Representatives approved it by a narrow margin and we’ll all be watching to see what the Senate does next.