Not that we didn't know this already, but the CBO has laid out the simple truth. The House GOP plan to repeal recent health care legislation would result in more people without insurance and larger deficits.
The CBO Analysis of H.R. 2, or as I like to call it "The Baby Wants His Bottle" Bill, is unstinting. Repealing health care reform would wreak havoc on our economy and citizenry in the years and decades ahead. First, the deficit:
As a result of changes in direct spending and revenues, CBO expects that enacting H.R. 2 would probably increase federal budget deficits over the 2012–2019 period by a total of roughly $145 billion (on the basis of the original estimate)...Adding two more years (through 2021) brings the projected increase in deficits to something in the vicinity of $230 billion, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes.
But what about beyond the ten-year window. Well, it doesn't get much better...
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2 would increase federal deficits in the decade after 2019 by an amount that is in a broad range around one-half percent of GDP, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes that CBO and JCT will include in the forthcoming estimate. For the decade beginning after 2021, the effect of H.R. 2 on federal deficits as a share of the economy would probably be somewhat larger.
In other words, at no time would H.R. 2 result in a net savings for the US budget. While limited money may be saved in reduced appropriations for HHS (and that is a large "may be"), it would be more than outweighed by increased costs throughout the system. The result would be sustained deficits, all brought about by the party that supposedly cares about reducing the deficit and our national debt.
Oh, and what about coverage totals?
Under H.R. 2, about 32 million fewer nonelderly people would have health insurance in 2019, leaving a total of about 54 million nonelderly people uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, compared with a projected share of 94 percent under current law (and 83 percent currently).
Under the Cantor/Boehner plan (and shouldn't that be the real name of this bill?) over 30 million people who would have been covered...won't be covered.
And one last little bit of info. What about premiums? Well, the CBO says that while individual plans would see a lower premium under H.R.2, the overall cost for people on those plans would rise because the subsidies would be removed. And what about premiums on your employer-provided plan?
Premiums for employment-based coverage obtained through large employers would be slightly higher under H.R. 2 than under current law.
Cantor and Boehner want you to pay higher premiums on your plan!
This bill is a total and utter disaster. It does nothing to make our health care system better. And yes, we all know it stands no chance of becoming law.
But this is a HUGE millstone to hang around the GOP's collective neck. The ads and soundbites write themselves. Democrats may not control the House. But they can use the GOP's control of the House, and the crazy bills they will spit out, against them.