Lowlights From The BCRA CBO Score

Here are some of the lowlights from the CBO score of the BCRA that was released today:

• 22 million will lose insurance in the next 10 years. That is an improvement of just 1 million from the already abysmal 23 million AHCA
• 15 million would lose insurance NEXT YEAR!!
• 4 million would lose their employee-sponsored insurance NEXT YEAR!!
• Over 200,000 Americans will die over the next ten years because of the changes in the BCRA
• The BCRA reduces the deficit by $320 billion as compared to around the $120 billion in the AHCA
• The BCRA will result in higher copays and higher deductibles that will actually make it almost irrational for lower income earners to actually buy insurance even with potentially lower premiums and additional tax credits
• A mid-income 64 year old will see his/her premiums rise from just under $7,000 to over $20,000
• In addition, the existing problems in certain counties that either have one or none insurers will not be solved by the BCRA
• The BCRA would cut over $770 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years and that number would increase by an undetermined amount beyond the 10 year window

The GOP also added a questionable change to the BCRA today, mandating that a person who had let their coverage lapse for over 60 days would have to wait six months in order to re-enroll. That change may not pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian in order to be considered for reconciliation and only need 50 votes to pass in the Senate.

You would think that the massive coverage losses next year might make some of the GOP Senators queasy about voting for this legislation. But this is the Republican party and tax cuts are more important than almost anything, including American lives.