Contact(s): David Kolovson (Pocan) 202-225-2906
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), released the following statement after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report projecting 23 million people would lose coverage under Speaker Paul Ryan’s Trumpcare plan that passed the House last month. In addition the report finds that less healthy people, in states that waive essential health benefit requirements, would face extremely high premiums and that it would become difficult for people with preexisting conditions to afford health insurance. Also, the CBO estimates that premiums for low-income, older Americans in these states would go up 800 percent.
“This latest CBO score confirms that Trumpcare is a terrible proposal and people will pay more for less coverage, if they can even afford it. What’s really alarming is that less healthy people, like those with a preexisting condition, could face extremely prohibitive costs for coverage and essentially be priced out of buying insurance. This means people with diabetes or a heart condition could wind up uninsured, which would be devastating for many families. On top of that out-of-pocket expenses for essential health benefits such as maternity care and prescription drugs would skyrocket. This is just a bad bill that was never intended to help people, only to give $600 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest in this country, insurance companies, and Big Pharma.”
