New health bill would leave 22 million more uninsured
WASHINGTON — The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that the latest version of a Senate bill to repeal and replace the health care law would leave 15 million people without health insurance next year, rising to 22 million in 2026 — another blow to the legislative push that President Trump is trying to revive.
Senators were set to leave for the weekend Thursday afternoon after a demoralizing week of fruitless negotiations, capped by news that one of their most prominent colleagues, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has brain cancer.
The majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, appears determined to force the Senate to vote next Tuesday on a procedural motion to begin debating health care, but he still is short of the 50 votes he needs.
The latest version of the Senate bill would increase average insurance premiums by 20 percent next year, the budget office estimates, but it would reduce premiums after 2019, so that in 2026 premiums for a typical “benchmark plan” would be 25 percent lower than under current law.