CBO Score Notes More Than $770 Billion to be Cut from Medicaid
Washington – The Senate’s bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, called the “Better Care Reconciliation Act” (BCRA) would yank health care coverage from at least 22 million individuals, including 15 million from Medicaid, and limit access to care for millions of others, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s report released today. The nonpartisan CBO report notes that $772 billion will be cut from Medicaid over the course of ten years.
“The CBO score confirms the Senate bill is an austere policy that will eliminate health care coverage for tens of millions of individuals and decimate Medicaid funding, which provides vital care to more than 70 million people,” said National Health Law Program (NHeLP) Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor. “Upending the health care system in this way will not provide better care to anyone. It will return us to days of high uninsured rates and expensive, but inadequate health care coverage.”
NHeLP Managing Attorney of the DC Office Mara Youdelman said the proposed cuts to Medicaid would be devastating for the most vulnerable populations, and leave states with no room to address the health care needs of low-income individuals and families.
“The Republican bill seeks to drain Medicaid of funding to pay for major tax breaks for the wealthiest among us,” Youdelman said. “The bill would end Medicaid as we know it by imposing caps on funding, which will inevitably force states to limit enrollment in Medicaid and cut health care services for women, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. In an era of great income inequality, this is exactly the wrong direction to be heading. We need level-headed senators to stop this bill from moving forward.”Please contact NHeLP’s Director of Communications Jeremy Leaming for additional comment about the CBO score and Senate leadership’s effort to repeal the Affordable Care and cut Medicaid.
NHeLP, founded in 1969, advocates for the rights of low-income and underserved people to access quality health care.
