Nonpartisan report: 18 million would lose health insurance with ACA repeal

Courtesy / Office of Sen. Angus King U.S. Sen. Angus King, shown on the Senate floor, joined Democrats in an unsuccessful first vote to block the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

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By James McCarthy

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report Tuesday stating that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies and mandates would immediately cause 18 million people to lose health insurance and force premiums in the individual market to double over the next decade.

Later, after the elimination of the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility and of subsidies for insurance purchased through the ACA marketplaces, that number would increase to 27 million and then to 32 million in 2026, the CBO reported.

Premiums in the nongroup market (for individual policies purchased through the marketplaces or directly from insurers) would increase by 20% to 25% — relative to projections under current law — in the first new plan year following enactment, the report stated. The increase would reach about 50% in the year following the elimination of the Medicaid expansion and the marketplace subsidies, and premiums would about double by 2026.

The CBO’s report is based on its assessment of H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act introduced by Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Price of Georgia in October 2015. The legislation was passed by the GOP-led Congress in 2015 and vetoed by President Obama last year.

Price, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, goes before the Senate today in the first of two confirmation hearings.

King repeats call to slow ACA repeal effort

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who opposes the repeal of the ACA, issued a statement Tuesday in response to the CBO’s findings: “This nonpartisan report is another startling affirmation of the far-reaching and disastrous consequences that a rushed repeal of the Affordable Care Act would have for millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Mainers. Simply put, this is not a responsible way to govern — and people across Maine are unfairly and needlessly going to pay for the price by having their health insurance ripped away and by having to reach deeper into their pockets for vital health services. I urge my colleagues to put aside politics and focus on instituting meaningful improvements to the ACA or, at the very least, to put forward a credible replacement plan before moving to repeal the law.”

In response to the GOP majority’s efforts to repeal the ACA, King has offered five amendments to legislation currently under consideration by the Senate that would preserve critical facets of the ACA.