Senate Health Bill Falls Victim To The CBO's Incredibly Bad Uninsured Math

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 7/18/2017 | Staff

[IBD editorial writer]

Numbers Game: The Senate Republican effort to repeal ObamaCare has faltered, making it the latest victim of a seriously flawed report saying it would have cost 22 million people their health insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office, which has become the official scorekeeper of the impact of health reform despite its miserable track record, said that the Senate repeal-and-replace bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2027 than if ObamaCare remained in place. Before that, it said the much different House repeal-and-replace bill would leave 23 million more without insurance. Heck, the CBO said that simply repealing ObamaCare without putting anything else in its place would result in 23 million more uninsured.

If that seems odd, take a close look at how the CBO got to these numbers and see that they are pretty much worthless.

Overestimating the individual mandate. The CBO said that getting rid of ObamaCare's individual mandate will immediately cause 7 million to drop out of the individual insurance market.

But the CBO wildly exaggerated the effectiveness of the individual mandate, which by all accounts is too small and easily avoidable to be effective. Last year, for example, 6.5 million paid the penalty, which averaged just $470. Nearly twice as many — 12.7 million — claimed one of numerous exemptions from the individual mandate, according to the IRS.

[ClearCase_guy]

I think the CBO works out its conclusion first, and then formulates a study to back it up.

It’s no different from Global Warming. They need to funnel money in one direction or another, and they just want to justify that redistribution of wealth.

[N. Theknow]

CBO should do an updated analysis of Obama care and compare it to what is being proposed.

[Gay State Conservative]

The CBO is staffed by career government bureaucrats.If you work for the Federal government you're a Rat...it's that simple.For proof look at DC...the Rat Presidential nominee routinely carries DC by 90-10%.

Congressional Budget office "nonpartisan"?

BARBARA STREISAND!!!!

[Vlad The Inhaler]

The behind-the-scenes work force of just about every Washington bureaucracy (including senate and house committees) is packed full of liberals.

Can the CBO be any different?

[C210N]

The CBO could be replaced with one of these*.

* - $29.99, plus tax

[Sacajaweau]

I agree....Do Obamacare 10 years out.

[Sacajaweau]

6.5 mil paid the penalty and 85% received subsidies.

The varmit in all this was the "employee mandate", the "personal mandate" and the Medicaid monster.

[Sacajaweau]

The problem is that the CBO says everyone should be insured.

[Ann Archy]

It was a HORRIBLE bill!!

[GailA]

Old mitch is to blame, he’s loading the bill with kickbacks

Mitch MCConnell slips more KICKBACK
deals into Senate healthcare bill
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/16/mitch-mcconnell-slips-more-kickbacks-into-the-senate-healthcare-bill/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=daily&utm_content=links&utm_campaign=20170717

[Pining_4_TX]

It is a horrible bill, but the CBO is still wrong. Yes, people will lose their crappy Obamacare policies, but if the free market were allowed to work, many new options would become available. Unlike Obamacare, the new policies would be affordable and would allow people to buy what they want and need. It would have to be free of state legislators meddling and forcing insurance companies to cover all that lobbyists and pressure groups demamd, however.