�Թϲ�����

For a week now, some congressional insiders had been whispering that the critical “score” from the Congressional Budget Office, on the legislation that narrowly passed the House earlier this month, might not provide any real deficit savings. Such a finding would have violated the Senate’s more arcane rules for considering budgetary items under fast-track rules — and it might have forced House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to redraw the legislation and hold another vote. So there were a few sighs of relief late Wednesday afternoon when the CBO declared the legislation would find $119 billion in savings over 10 years, more than enough to allow it to pass muster under the Senate’s so-called reconciliation rules, which allow a simple majority for passage rather than the usual 60-vote majority. That’s an important feat for Senate Republicans, who control just 52 seats. (Kane, 5/25)

Under budget rules, the health bill must cut the federal deficit (the House’s first version did that to the tune of $337 billion), so that is an important number. It is also important to look at how much of the budget savings would come from reduced Medicaid spending, because steep cuts mean more people without insurance. That is another key figure: the increase in the uninsured compared with leaving the ACA in place. The more uninsured, the harder it may be for Republicans to sell their plan to the public. And effects on premiums matter, since Senate GOP lawmakers have said their main goal is to bring down premium costs. (Armour, 5/24)

The findings provide ammunition for the two competing factions that Senate Republican leaders need to pull together to pass a bill. Centrist Republicans, concerned about the number of uninsured, hope to make the House bill less far-reaching, while conservatives want to double down on measures the CBO suggests will lower premiums on average. (Armour and Peterson, 5/25)

Obamacare repeal is in trouble in the Senate, and a nonpartisan analysis of the House’s repeal legislation issued Wednesday only reinforced that reality. Within minutes of the release of the report showing 23 million fewer Americans would be insured over a decade, two Senate Republicans blasted the estimate and the House bill, underscoring just how much the legislation will have to change to get through the upper chamber. (Demko and Haberkorn, 5/24)

In a flurry of statements, Senate Republicans stressed that they are starting fresh on the healthcare bill and that it will be changed significantly — and scored again by the CBO — before it becomes law. “While I am in favor of repealing ObamaCare, I am opposed to the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in its current form,” Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who faces a close reelection race next year, said in a statement. “This bill does not do enough to address Nevada’s Medicaid population or protect Nevadans with pre-existing conditions.” (Sullivan 5/24)

Republican senators quickly distanced themselves from a House-passed ObamaCare repeal and replacement bill after a new analysis of the legislation was released on Wednesday. The American Health Care Act (AHCA) would result in 23 million more uninsured Americans over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office analysis. The CBO also found that in states that would let insurers charge sick people more, some could be priced out of being able to afford insurance. (Carney, 5/24)

Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said the House bill failed to meet what he called the “Jimmy Kimmel Test,” a reference to the late-night talk-show host’s infant son, who was born with a heart defect, and the idea that any new health law should provide generous-enough insurance to cover critical medical needs. “Congress’s focus must be to lower premiums with coverage which passes the Jimmy Kimmel Test. The AHCA does not,” he said in a statement. His Republican colleague, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, likewise said that the GOP bill would “disproportionately affect older, low-income Americans.” (Edney, Tracer and Litvan, 5/25)

President Trump’s healthcare chief slammed the CBO score of the GOP healthcare bill as “wrong again” minutes after its release on Wednesday, immediately dismissing the conclusion that it would substantially raise premiums for sick people. “The CBO was wrong when they analyzed ObamaCare’s effect on cost and coverage, and they are wrong again,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said in a statement. (Hellmann, 5/24)