Premiums Would Double Under GOP ObamaCare Repeal: CBO

The Congressional Budget Office has scored the Senate GOP bill to repeal the ACA without replacing it with anything—and it's not good. If the ObamaCare Repeal Reconciliation Act is passed, 17 million fewer people would be insured by next year, NBC News reports. That would increase to 32 million fewer people by 2026. Premiums would be up 25% by next year and would double by 2026. The CBO found that by 2020, about half of all Americans would live in counties without any insurers in the individual market. That would increase to about three-quarters of Americans by 2026, according to Bloomberg.

The ObamaCare Repeal Reconciliation Act would remove the ACA's mandate that people have insurance while keeping its rules about what insurance plans must cover, leading to the pool of people with insurance getting older and sicker, USA Today reports. That's what's behind the increase in premiums. The bill, which is an updated version of a bill passed by Congress in 2015 but vetoed by President Obama, would reduce deficits by $473 billion over the next decade. Sen. Mitch McConnell has said the Senate will potentially vote on the repeal-only bill next week. So far, three GOP senators have said they won't vote for it—enough to defeat it. (More health care reform stories.)