CBO estimates AHCA would leave 23 million more uninsured by 2026

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 24 May 2017

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released its complete updated cost estimate of the GOP-backed American Health Care Act, three weeks after the House narrowly passed the health-care bill. The new CBO score revealed that by 2026, an additional 23 million Americans would be uninsured under the American Health Care Act, as opposed to if ObamaCare were to remain law. In March, the CBO estimated 24 million more Americans would be uninsured by 2026; Wednesday's score takes into account amendments made to the bill by Republicans to pass it through the House.

The CBO also estimated the American Health Care Act would reduce the federal deficit over the next decade by $119 billion. When the CBO scored the GOP's first iteration of the bill in March, it estimated that the federal deficit would be reduced by $150 billion.

Premiums are projected to go up by about 20 percent in 2018 and then increase by another 5 percent in 2019, before beginning to drop, Time reported. The CBO warned that "less healthy people would face extremely high premiums, despite the additional funding" that the bill has added to reduce premiums. A last-minute amendment to the bill before the House vote allotted $8 billion in federal funding, vaguely intended to offset premium increases caused by the bill's waiver options that allow states to make certain coverage decisions.