Republicans set low expectations for health bill cost study

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans pushing a plan to dismantle Barack Obama’s health care law are bracing for a Congressional Budget Office analysis widely expected to conclude that fewer Americans will have health coverage under the proposal, despite President Donald Trump’s promise of “insurance for everybody.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan said he fully expects the CBO analysis, set to be released as early as Monday, to find less coverage since the GOP plan eliminates the government requirement to be insured.

But Ryan and Trump administration officials vowed to move forward on their proposed “repeal and replace” plan, insisting they can work past GOP disagreements and casting the issue as one of “choice” in which consumers are freed of a government mandate to buy insurance.

“What we’re trying to achieve here is bringing down the cost of care, bringing down the cost of insurance not through government mandates and monopolies but by having more choice and competition,” Ryan, R-Wis., said on Sunday. “We’re not going to make an American do what they don’t want to do.”

The CBO’s long-awaited cost analysis of the House GOP leadership plan, including estimates on the number of people expected to be covered, will likely affect Republicans’ chances of passing the proposal.

GOP opponents from the right and center are already hardening their positions against the Trump-backed legislation. House conservatives vowed to block the bill as “Obamacare Lite” unless there are more restrictions, even as a Republican, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., warned the plan would never pass as is due to opposition from moderates.

“Do not walk the plank and vote for a bill that cannot pass the Senate and then have to face the consequences of that vote,” Cotton said. “If they vote for this bill, they’re going to put the House majority at risk next year.”

Trump was bullish about Republican chances of passing a health care bill, tweeting Monday, “Republicans will come together and save the day.”

“ObamaCare is imploding. It is a disaster and 2017 will be the worst year yet, by far!” he tweeted.

The GOP legislation would eliminate the current mandate that nearly all people in the United States carry insurance or face fines. It would use tax credits to help consumers buy health coverage, expand health savings accounts, phase out an expansion of Medicaid and cap that program for the future, end some requirements for health plans under Obama’s law, and scrap a number of taxes.

During the presidential campaign and as recently as January, Trump repeatedly stressed his support for universal health coverage, saying his plan to replace the Affordable Care Act would provide “insurance for everybody.”