The American Medical Association, the United States’ largest advocacy group for doctors, said on Monday that an estimated drop in coverage for millions of people under House Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill is “unacceptable.”
“If this bill were to become law, CBO projects 14 million Americans who have gained coverage in recent years could lose it in 2018. For the AMA, that outcome is unacceptable,” the group said in a statement.
The AMA announced its opposition to House Republicans’ American Health Care Act last week, citing “the expected decline in health insurance coverage and the potential harm it would cause to vulnerable patient populations.”
“We cannot support the AHCA as drafted,” the AMA wrote in a letter last Tuesday. “Critically, we urge you to do all that is possible to ensure that those who are currently covered do not become uninsured.”
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in a report released Monday that 24 million people would lose their insurance over the next 10 years under the repeal bill.
“Today’s estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office underscore the AMA’s concerns about the AHCA as it is written,” the AMA said.
The group called Obamacare “an imperfect law” but “a significant improvement on the status quo at the time.”
“The AMA believes we need continued progress to expand coverage for the uninsured,” the group said. “Unfortunately, the current proposal – as the CBO analysis shows – would result in the most vulnerable population losing their coverage.”
