01.06.11

CBO: GOP Health Law Repeal Increases the Deficit, Families’ Costs, and Decreases Benefits

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO)  said today that the GOP’s health reform repeal bill would dramatically increase the deficit by nearly a quarter trillion dollars in the first decade, lead to increased insurance costs for most Americans and decrease health benefits offered.
"The GOP’s budget busting repeal bill will kill jobs, raise costs and deny critical care to Americans who need it, " said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Education and Labor Committee. “The health reform law is about putting choices in the hands of families and their doctors. It is clear that the GOP’s repeal bill is a dramatic power-grab by the powerful insurance industry at the expense of families and their doctors.”

Specifically, the CBO said repeal:

  • Adds nearly a quarter trillion dollars to the deficit in the first decade (page 5)
  • Adds an estimated $1.2 trillion to the deficit in the second decade (around 0.5% of GDP).  (page 7)
  • Leaves 54 million without health insurance, 32 million more than under the Affordable Care Act (page 8-9)
  • Increases premiums for employer-based coverage, where most Americans get their insurance. (page 10)
  • Raises costs for Americans with insurance -- higher co-pays and the premiums most families pay because the repeal of tax credits for coverage-- and get fewer benefits for their money (page 9-10)