House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Monday that the Republican bill to repeal Obamacare “will empower Americans with access, choice and affordability.” He avoided any mention of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the bill would leave millions more people uninsured.
“This report by the CBO confirms that this first phase of health care reform, the American Health Care Act, uses conservative and free-market principles that will empower Americans with access, choice and affordability,” McCarthy said in a statement.
The CBO estimated that 14 million would lose coverage by 2018, just in time for the midterm elections, with a total of 24 million people losing their insurance over the next 10 years under House Republicans’ bill.
McCarthy did not mention those estimates in his statement. He instead railed against Obamacare, which he claimed “continues to collapse under its own weight,” and promised that the next stages of Republican health care legislation “will only further reduce costs and increase access to health care.”
