WASHINGTON -- Although the Senate's Better Care and Reconciliation Act is widely considered dead, the Congressional Budget Office today , which included a number of modifications to the original legislation intended to make it more palatable both to conservatives and moderates in the Republican caucus.
The bottom line, according to the CBO (working with staff from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation), all compared with projections of leaving the Affordable Care Act intact:
- Deficit reduction through 2026: $420 billion
- Numbers of uninsured individuals: up 15 million in 2018, up 22 million in 2026
- Percentage of non-Medicare population with insurance in 2026: 82%, versus 90% under the ACA
The deficit reduction is bigger than would have been achieved under the original BCRA, the analysis found, because it put back some of the taxes authorized under the ACA that the initial bill would have repealed. The revision also added extra money for premium subsidies and opioid abuse prevention and treatment.
Provisions covering Medicaid that would dramatically alter the program were essentially the same in the revision.
The analysis seems moot, however, as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) admitted he didn't have enough votes to pass the revised BCRA. A follow-up effort to try passing a repeal-only bill also fell short of attracting enough support. The indefinite absence of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) following his brain cancer diagnosis makes Republicans' chances of passing legislation even more remote.