The White House said in a statement Monday that the Congressional Budget Office can’t properly score health care legislation.
The statement came hours after the CBO released a projection that the Senate GOP Obamacare repeal bill will leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2026.
“The CBO has consistently proven it cannot accurately predict how healthcare legislation will impact insurance coverage. This history of inaccuracy, as demonstrated by its flawed report on coverage, premiums, and predicted deficit arising out of Obamacare, reminds us that its analysis must not be trusted blindly,” the White House said in its statement. “In 2013, the CBO estimated that 24 million people would have coverage under Obamacare by 2016. It was off by an astounding 13 million people – more than half—as less than 11 million were actually covered. Then, CBO estimated that 30 million fewer people would be uninsured in 2016, but then it had to reduce its estimate to 22 million, further illustrating its inability to present reliable healthcare predictions.”
Despite the White House’s criticism, the CBO score will make passage of the Senate health care bill a tough task. Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate, announced over Twitter that the analysis shows the legislation won’t fix flaws in Obamacare and that she will not support the bill.