US

The CBO Made A 24 Million Person Mistake When It Scored Obamacare

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Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that the White House-backed plan to repeal and replace Obamacare would result in an estimated 24 million more uninsured people by 2026.

The CBO previously overestimated the amount of people who would gain private health insurance due to Obamacare by the exact same number — 24 million.

The Weekly Standard reported that soon before Obamacare’s implementation in 2013, the CBO said that 201 million people on average would have private health insurance by 2016. The CBO downgraded that estimate to an average of 177 million people last year — a difference of 24 million people.

Monday’s new CBO score comes after harsh criticism by the Trump administration about the nonpartisan outfit’s record.

“If you’re looking to the CBO for accuracy, you’re looking in the wrong place,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said last week.

The analysis of the American Health Care Act, which is supported by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and President Trump, found that changes to the health-care market and the Medicaid program increase the number of uninsured people by 24 million in 2026.

There are currently 28 million uninsured people in the United States, according to the CBO.