Repealing the insurance coverage parts of Obamacare would save the federal government $1.2 trillion over the next decade, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office.
The nonpartisan office released a report Thursday that found repealing the healthcare law’s subsidies for health insurance coverage and paying for the Medicaid expansion would save money. However, the number of uninsured would soar from 28 million to 51 million in 2026.
The CBO reported that the largest amounts of savings would come from reducing federal spending for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program at $950 billion. Repealing Obamacare’s premium subsidies could save the federal government about $794 billion over a decade. In total, the federal government would be expected to save about $1.7 trillion by eliminating the Medicaid spending and premium subsidies.
However, it would lose nearly $500 billion in revenue from the individual mandate’s penalty for not getting insurance and the penalties on employers for not giving insurance to every employee.
Even though the estimate only focuses on Obamacare insurance coverage, the law also included cuts to projected Medicare spending. Repealing the law in its entirety — thus taking away those cuts as well as additional tax increases — would change the deficit calculations. A 2015 CBO report said full repeal would add $353 billion to deficits.
The report comes as the Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Trump have made repealing Obamacare a top priority when Trump assumes the presidency next month.
Several top Republicans have said they want to use a procedural move called reconciliation that would allow the Senate to pass a repeal bill and avoid a filibuster. Congress would give itself two to three years to adopt a replacement, but Republicans haven’t reached a consensus on a replacement plan.
Note: This story has been corrected to clarify that the report dealt with repealing the coverage provisions of Obamacare, not the entire law.
