House GOP legislation to delay Obamacare’s individual mandate by five years would cause a spike in health insurance premiums and 13 million fewer Americans insured, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The bill is set to come up for a vote on Friday, a Republican leadership aide said.
The delay of the mandate until 2019 would save $170 billion and use the money to fund a $138 billion “doc fix” that avoids the prospect of large physician payment cuts set to take effect on April 1, the budget office said.
It would cause insurance premiums to “increase by 10 percent to 20 percent” come 2018, CBO projected. It would lead to one million fewer people on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Plan, one million fewer people with employer-based coverage and seven million fewer with coverage from the Obamacare exchanges.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on Tuesday rejected the idea. Delaying the individual mandate has been a nonstarter for the White House.
