House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday defended the American Health Care Act’s updated score as indication of how many people would leave Obamacare if given the choice, and not a sign of how many would be forced to leave the program.
“What they’re basically saying at the Congressional Budget Office is if you’re not going to force people to buy Obamacare, if you’re not going to force them to buy something that they don’t want, then they won’t buy it,” Ryan told Fox News in an interview taped just as CBO released its report Monday evening.
“So it’s not that that people are getting pushed off our plan. It’s that people will choose not to buy something they don’t like or want. And that’s the difference here,” Ryan added. “So by repealing the individual and employer mandate which mandates people buy this health insurance that they can’t afford and don’t like, if you don’t mandate that they’re going to do this, then that many people won’t do it.”
.@SpeakerRyan on healthcare: “The key is to give people more choices, have more competition, bring premiums down.” https://t.co/WHxbpAOCbX pic.twitter.com/SidbKls41O— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 27, 2017
Last Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office released a revised version of the House GOP bill. Since then, a handful of conservative senators have said they do not plan to support the legislation as-is, prompting GOP leadership and President Trump to try and whip votes so the bill can pass. Republicans are also expected to consider amendments to the bill to win enough votes.
Ryan also noted the legislation would reduce the deficit by $321 billion over the next decade.
