NEWS UPDATE 6/16: CBO SAYS HELP BILL DOES LITTLE, COSTS MUCH

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s 700-page draft reform bill ran into unexpected trouble today with the release by the Congressional Budget Office of a preliminary analysis of the bill.

According to the CBO, the HELP bill—as currently drafted—would cost more than a trillion dollars over ten years, but leave as many as 37 million still uninsured.

The CBO analysis found that while subsidies proposed by the bill would make insurance more affordable for many, with some 39 million individuals moving to insurance exchange coverage, 15 million would lose their employer-sponsored coverage and another 8 million would leave government programs.

Responding to Republican criticisms, Senate Democrats emphasized that the bill was still a work in progress, and that the draft reviewed by CBO did not include any form of employer (or individual) mandate, or a public plan, or an expansion of Medicaid. Collectively, these would be expected to substantially reduce the number of uninsured, but could also increase the total cost.