Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on Wednesday tried to undermine the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that 23 million people will lose insurance coverage under the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“The CBO was wrong when they analyzed Obamacare’s effect on cost and coverage, and they are wrong again,” Price said in a statement.
He claimed that under Obamacare “Americans are paying more for fewer healthcare choices.”
In a highly anticipated analysis released Wednesday, the CBO estimated that under the repeal bill, 14 million fewer people would be enrolled in Medicaid in 2026 than projected under current health care law.
House Republicans voted to pass the repeal bill earlier in May without waiting for the CBO to release its score, pushing through legislation that the office has now estimated would make coverage more expensive for older and lower-income consumers and throw millions more off their insurance.