House Democrats warned Tuesday that more than half of the people covered by the Affordable Care Act would lose coverage under the House Republicans’ replacement plan, but said they doubted the bill could pass given divisions within the party on the issue.
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Tuesday that between 60 to 80 percent of those receiving coverage from the ACA would be without coverage if the GOP plan was enacted. He also criticized House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Greg Walden, R-Ore., who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, for not proceeding through “regular order” and moving straight to a mark-up in the committee without having mark-ups in the subcommittees, and said these steps would happen before the Congressional Budget Office scores the bill.
“In terms of why this is devastating — very simple: Because most of the people who got health insurance through the Affordable Care Act won’t have it anymore,” said Pallone, who serves as the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health. “Most of those 20-plus million who got insurance under the ACA who did not have it before are going to lose it … 70 percent, 60 percent, 80 percent — somewhere in there, okay? Tens of millions of people.”
“The reason there’s no CBO score, the reason there’s no regular order is because they don’t want people to have time to look at this thing because they know it’s going to have devastating consequences for the American people, and I think they’re afraid that if their members, even the Republican members, have a lot of time to look at this thing or get a [CBO] score so they know what the actual cost is, they won’t vote for it,” Pallone said.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the Republicans were “deeply divided” on the bill, and said that’s why the bill’s passage is “very much in doubt.” The Maryland Democrat also questioned whether House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, has a “serious view” of the ramifications of the bill.
The bill, which was released Monday night, has drawn criticism from corners of the GOP, including members of the House Freedom Caucus. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., came out immediately after the bill’s release to declare it as “Obamacare 2.0,” while others have labeled it “Obamacare lite.” Meanwhile, Brady defended the bill from those critiques at a press conference Tuesday.
“This is Obamacare Gone,” Brady said.
Ryan is slated to hold a press conference with Brady and Walden Tuesday afternoon in defense of the bill.
