The Congressional Budget Office released its scoring of the recently-passed GOP health care bill. The good news for Republicans is that it would reduce the deficit, so it can clear the Senate by a simple majority vote. The bad news (at least politically) is that the CBO said that the health care plan would likely raise premiums significantly for sick people. Rep. Mark Meadows of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said that he’s open to more aid to keep premiums from spiking.
House Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows hinted that he is open to more funding to help people with pre-existing conditions after a new estimate of the House legislation to repeal Obamacare shed doubts on whether sick people would be shielded from high premiums.
The North Carolina Republican said he would look at the updated score from the Congressional Budget Office for the American Health Care Act, which would gut Obamacare. He told reporters he wasn’t averse to more funding if it is needed.
“The president is committed to making sure pre-existing conditions are covered in principle and in practice, which means that funding has to be there to make it work,” Meadows said Wednesday. “One of the critical things that we are going to make sure of is there is the appropriate funding to do that.”
The CBO released an updated score for the American Health Care Act on Wednesday afternoon, stating that a last-minute amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., could make healthcare coverage unaffordable for some sick people.
The amendment, which drew the Freedom Caucus’s support for the bill, would let states opt out of an Obamacare requirement that insurers cover 10 essential health benefits. States also could opt out of community rating, a measure that prevents insurers from charging sicker people more money.
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