With report's findings, Oregon Democrats take aim at GOP health care bill

PORTLAND, Ore. — The latest Congressional Budget Office analysis of the U.S. House Republicans’ bill to repeal and replace Obamacare has once again given Oregon’s Democrats ammunition to blast the plan.

According to Congress’ nonpartisan budget office, 23 million people would lose their health insurance by 2026 if the bill the House passed earlier this month becomes law. It could also leave many with pre-existing conditions facing unaffordable costs for coverage in states that seek and are granted waivers.

An analysis by the CBO of an earlier version of the Republican House bill before it was modified found that 24 million people would lose their health insurance.

As they did then, members of Oregon’s congressional delegation once again attacked the House bill. And Oregon’s U.S. senators fired stinging criticisms at it.

“Republicans handed the keys to insurance companies & shattered every promise about making health care better,” Oregon’s senior U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said in a tweet. “(House Republicans) tried to put lipstick on a pig. It turned out to be a mess.”

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said the version that passed the House was worse than it was in its original form.

“This report confirms that once again, the House has championed a bill that would strip health care from more than 20 million Americans,” he said in a statement. “In addition, millions more would buy policies that they think provide coverage but in reality are worth little more than the paper they are printed on.”

The House-passed bill is now in the Senate, where passage in that chamber appears to face an uphill battle.

U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, a Democrat representing Oregon’s 1st congressional district, knocked House Republicans for not holding hearings on their bill and not waiting for the CBO analysis before voting on it. She said she wants to work on fixing the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

“I stand ready and willing to come to the table to work on changes to the Affordable Care Act that will increase coverage and reduce costs, and my Republican colleagues should do the same instead of recklessly trying to dismantle the law because they promised to repeal it on the campaign trail,” she said in a statement.

Many congressional Republicans took a sharply different tack, emphasizing some of the report's more positive findings, including Oregon sole Republican in Congress, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who was instrumental in crafting the GOP's first version of the bill.

"CBO continues to find that through our patient-focused bill, premiums will go down and that our reforms will help stabilize the market,” said Walden in his own statement. “Our plan puts states and patients in the driver's seat, creating an innovative fund to help lower premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. As the Senate continues its work on this vital bill, we encourage them to further these critical principles.”

Republicans elsewhere in the country sounded a similar tone.

"This CBO report again confirms that the American Health Care Act achieves our mission: lowering premiums and lowering the deficit. It is another positive step toward keeping our promise to repeal and replace Obamacare," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

The analysis said the House bill, the American Health Care Act, would reduce federal deficits by $119 billion over the next decade. The previous version of the bill reduced shortfalls by $150 billion.

Trump and Republicans celebrated the House's narrow May 4 passage of the bill in a Rose Garden ceremony after several embarrassing setbacks, even as GOP senators signaled it had little chance of becoming law without significant changes.

In a late compromise, House GOP conservatives and moderates struck a deal that would let states get federal waivers to permit insurers to charge higher premiums to some people in poor health, and to ignore the standard set of benefits required by Obama's statute.

CBO said states adopting those waivers could destabilize coverage for people with medical problems. The agency estimated that about one-sixth of the population — more than 50 million people — live in states that would make substantial changes under the waivers.