House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) expressed confidence in the director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday, but noted that “there’s more to the story” than the dramatic drop in insurance coverage that the CBO estimated would result from Senate Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill.
At a press briefing Tuesday, a reporter asked Ryan if he had confidence in CBO Director Keith Hall.
“Yeah, he is actually a Republican appointee,” Ryan said. “If I’m not mistaken, Tom Price appointed him.”
“Look, I have always had my own complaints about methodologies and score keeping,” he continued. “We all have our preferences and our opinions on these things. But it is important that we have a scorekeeper. We can always complain about the nature of the score. I think their coverage numbers — there’s more to the story than what the number implies. But having said that, it’s important that we have a referee.”
In its analysis of Senate Republicans’ bill released Monday, the CBO estimated that 22 million fewer people would have insurance coverage by 2026 if it were passed into law, versus the status quo under Obamacare.
House Republicans, before and after the CBO estimated their Obamacare repeal bill would leave 23 million more people without coverage, often criticized the CBO as an inaccurate forecaster.
In an interview with “Fox & Friends’” Brian Kilmeade that aired Monday, Ryan argued that the coverage numbers reflected the Senate bill’s repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate, under which most Americans are eligible to pay a penalty if they do not have insurance.
“What they are basically saying at the Congressional Budget Office is if you are not going to force people to buy Obamacare — if you are not going to force people to buy something they don’t want — then they won’t buy it,” Ryan said. “So it’s not that people are getting pushed off a plan, it’s that people will choose not to buy something they don’t like or want.”
In addition to individuals who the CBO estimated would choose not to purchase insurance coverage if they didn’t face a penalty, however, the CBO also estimated that by 2026, 15 million fewer people would be enrolled in Medicaid versus the status quo.
