Republicans Have a Bill to Repeal Obamacare. They Don ’t Know Exactly What It Will Do

Senate Republicans have just days to pass a bill that would repeal major chunks of the Affordable Care Act, scale back federal spending on health care and dramatically change health insurance in the United States. But they don’t know exactly how it will work. Named for cosponsors Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, the Graham-Cassidy bill will not be scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before the Senate faces an end-of-month deadline to pass it by a simple majority. While the broad outlines of the bill are known, that means senators will have to make a decision to vote for or against the bill without knowing how many millions of Americans could lose insurance, how much money their state could gain or lose under it and what effects it might have on insurance premiums, according to their own scorekeeper. Outside groups have made their own estimates, all of which say the bill will lead to millions fewer Americans having insurance. A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities wagers that more than 32 million people could lose healthcare as a result of Graham-Cassidy, which could slash federal healthcare funding by nearly $300 billion over the next decade. But for some Republicans, the details of the bill are not as important as the years-long promise they made to repeal Obamacare. “You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn’t be considered,” said Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. “...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Bill Cassidy Congress Congressional Budget Office Healthcare Lindsey Graham Obamacare Source Type: news