Schumer: CBO Score Shows ‘No Amount Of Tweaks’ Justify O’Care Repeal

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Thursday that the latest Congressional Budget Office analysis of Republicans’ effort to repeal and replace Obamacare “makes clear (once again): no amount of tweaks, modifications or giveaways Senate Republicans make or add to their health care bill can change the fact that the bill is rotten at its core and would leave millions of Americans worse off.”

Schumer was responding to a Thursday CBO estimate that 22 million fewer people would have health coverage under the proposed repeal versus current law in 10 years.

The CBO score did not reflect Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) proposed amendment to allow insurers to sell unregulated plans, but it did reflect the bill’s deep, longterm cuts to Medicaid.

The most recent Republican effort, which so far does not have the votes necessary to be debated in the Senate, does include slightly more funding for opioid programs and state-based efforts to insure low-income people, at least relative to previous Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare.

Read Schumer’s full statement below:

“The latest CBO report makes clear (once again): no amount of tweaks, modifications or giveaways Senate Republicans make or add to their health care bill can change the fact that the bill is rotten at its core and would leave millions of Americans worse off. The Republican plan would jack up out-of-pocket costs for middle-class families under the guise of lower premiums and deficit reduction – a slippery way to cut off millions of Americans’ access to health care, including Medicaid and destroy the marketplaces. Democrats in the Senate remain eager to work with Republicans to pass real solutions to lower premiums, stabilize the market and improve coverage for millions of Americans.