As legislators continued a four-hour debate in the House leading to a do-or-die vote on the American Health Care Act late this afternoon, more information is emerging on the financial impacts of last-minute revisions to the bill.
Revisions add $15 billion to be given to states to cover essential benefits, a provision modified in the bill to satisfy concerns of conservative Freedom Caucus Republicans who see the proposed healthcare law as not significantly different than President Obama's Affordable Care Act.
The Congressional Budget Office incorporated amendments made to the bill, sending a letter on those changes Thursday to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
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The numbers of projected uninsured Americans over the next ten years remains at 24 million, and premiums are still expected to rise by 15 to 20 percent over the next two years before decreasing by about ten percent from current levels in 2026.
Enacting the bill with the proposed amendments would reduce the federal deficit by $150 billion through 2026. Previous estimates were a net reduction $337 billion from the federal deficit.
"As a result of those amendments, this estimate shows smaller savings over the next 10 years than the estimate that CBO issued on March 13 for the reconciliation recommendations of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce," CBO Director Keith Hall said. "The estimated effects on health insurance coverage and on premiums for health insurance are similar to those estimated for the committees' recommendations."
Medicaid would save $41 billion through 2026, the CBO said.
The proposed bill eliminates Medicaid expansion established under the ACA.
The provisions dealing with health insurance coverage would reduce deficits by $883 billion and the non-coverage provisions would increase deficits by $773 billion, mostly by reducing revenues, the CBO said.
[Also: Insurers both winners and losers in GOP bill]
The estimates of the number of uninsured remains the same at 14 million in 2018 and rising to 24 million by 2026.
Premiums in the non-group market would be expected to increase to 2020 and then decrease. In 2018 and 2019, premiums would be 15 to 20 percent higher than under the current law for single policy holders before dropping to 10 percent lower in 2026.
[Also: As Thursday vote looms, Paul Ryan tweaks Republican healthcare bill]
During debate Friday, Democratic Representative Jared Polis of Colorado said the bill adds $150 billion more to the deficit than the previous bill without covering additional Americans.
Republican Bradley Byrne of Alabama said the bill gives Americans freedom, choices and control over their health insurance.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse