Gov. Malloy Slams 'Trumpcare' After Poor CBO Score

Calling it "as cruel as it is dangerous," persistent President Trump critic Gov. Dannel Malloy slammed "Trumpcare," the nickname for the Republican's health care plan, after the Congressional Budget Office Wednesday said 23 million will lose health insurance under the plan over 10 years.

"President Trump made three promises when he set out to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a law that has dramatically reduced the uninsured rate by helping more than 20 million Americans afford quality health insurance," said Malloy in a statement. "He pledged that under the Republican plan, nobody would lose coverage, no one would pay more, and insurers would be prohibited from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. Today, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has reported that the bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives breaks all three promises. We can now confirm that under this plan, Americans will pay more for less coverage. An additional 14 million consumers are estimated to be uninsured by 2018, and 23 million more consumers will lose insurance over the next ten years. Trumpcare is as cruel as it is dangerous for the health of our citizens and the long-term prosperity of the United States. Even now, Senate Republicans are meeting behind closed doors to draft their bill. For the sake of the nation and the citizens they serve, they should wholly reject the House bill and work with Democrats to craft a law that builds on the successes of the Affordable Care Act."

Under the GOP plan, according to the CBO, the federal deficit would be reduced by $119 billion dollars between 2017 and 2026, down about $30 billion compared to an earlier Republian plan, which stalled in the House in March.

Those savings would come from a $1.1 trillion cut in government spending for health care, including $880 billion in Medicaid. The GOP plan also cuts taxes by about $992 billion that had been raised to help pay for insurance premiums, money which had been generated mostly from taxes on wealthy Americans.

"The CBO score reveals just how bad Trumpcare is for consumers and the nation," added Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman in a statement. "Not only will 14 million more Americans potentially be uninsured by next year, but rapidly rising costs – once held in check by the ACA – will simply put insurance out of reach for millions of others. In Connecticut, the elderly, older adults under age 64, low-wage earners, and more than half a million citizens with pre-existing conditions will see their costs go up, and the state will lose up to a billion dollars a year that supports Medicaid. Trumpcare isn’t a healthcare plan – it’s tax relief for the wealthy, and it comes at the expense of everyone else."

The House plan, called the American Health Care Act, was narrowly passed earlier this month, and Republican members of the U.S. Senate currently are drafting their own version of a health care bill.

If that measure is approved, the two bills would be merged under reconciliation, and that new effort would then require adoption before moving on for President Trump's signature.

Image via Shutterstock

— Cody Fenwick (Patch National Staff) contributed to this report.