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Health care bill gauged

CBO: 22 million more uninsured; deficit cut $202B

WASHINGTON — The Senate Republican health care bill would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured in 2026 than under President Barack Obama’s health care law, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Monday, complicating GOP leaders’ hopes of pushing the plan through the chamber this week.

Minutes after the report’s release, three GOP senators threatened to oppose a vote on the proposal this week, enough to sink it unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., can win over some of them or other GOP critics.

The 22 million additional people without coverage is a bit better than the 23 million who’d be left without insurance under the measure the House approved last month, the budget office has estimated. Trump has called the House version approved last month “mean” and told Senate Republicans to approve legislation with more “heart.”

The budget office also said the Senate bill would cut the deficit by $202 billion more over the coming decade than the House version. Senate leaders could use some of those savings to attract moderate support by making Medicaid and other provisions in their measure more generous, though conservatives would prefer using that money to reduce federal deficits.

The budget office report said coverage losses would especially affect people between ages 50 and 64, before they qualify for Medicare, and with incomes below 200 percent of poverty level, or around $30,300 for an individual. The report says that in 2026 under Obama’s law, a 64-year-old earning $26,500 would pay premiums amounting to $1,700 a year, after subsidies. Under the Senate bill, that person would pay $6,500, partly because insurers could charge older adults more.

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