According to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections, a full repeal of Obamacare would insure more Americans than Speaker Paul Ryan’s Obamacare-lite reforms.
The CBO’s analysis on the Republican leadership’s plan to repeal Obamacare predicts it would drop insurance for 14 million people in 2018, while 24 million would lose insurance by 2026. Compared to these figures, the CBO’s research on the 2015 full repeal bill indicated it would insure more Americans than the Ryan plan.
Phillip Klein, managing editor of the Washington Examiner, stated that despite the Ryan plan doling out billions of dollars in tax credits, the plan also retains the Obamacare regulations, which might stall any more progress. Klein said:
The reason is that the Republican replacement preserves many of Obamacare’s regulations that drive up the cost of insurance. So, in essence, the GOP alternative would be asking people to purchase expensive Obamacare plans, with less financial assistance. In contrast, while full repeal would offer no assistance, because it would get rid of Obamacare’s regulations, it would make insurance cheaper.
Based on the relatively similar effects of full repeal and partial repeal under the Ryan plan, Klein argues, “If Republicans are going to get hammered on coverage numbers, they may as well do it for the type of plan that is philosophically coherent and consistent with conservative principles; a plan that would actually usher in the kind of choice and competition that Republicans are always claiming they want; that could actually have a big upside surprise on coverage if individuals benefit from free market innovation that the CBO cannot model for.”