House Democrats are attacking the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare with preliminary estimates that say 10-15 million people would lose coverage under it.
“Today Republicans give you survival of the fittest for the healthy and wealthy,” said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., during a markup in the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday of its portion of the American Health Care Act, which guts Obamacare and partially replaces it.
Rep. Diana Degette, D-Colo., pointed to an early estimate from the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute that 10 to 15 million people could lose insurance coverage under the bill.
About 20 million more people got insurance under Obamacare, mainly through its program to expand Medicaid. Thirty-one states and the District opted to expand their Medicaid programs, with 19 declining.
The GOP plan would keep the Medicaid expansion in place until 2020 and then replace the insurance program for the poor with a per-capita cap.
The Congressional Budget Office has not released a score on the impact of the plan on insurance coverage and federal spending.
Republicans defended the bill as the best way to defeat Obamacare, which they say has limited choices and has hurt their constituents.
“This is something that gives needed flexibility to our states to allow them to address the needs that our constituents have,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
The opening statements foreshadowed a contentious day in the committee, as they must sift through more than 100 amendments primarily introduced from Democrats.
Another markup is taking place in the House Ways and Means Committee, which is focusing on the tax credits and other spending provisions.
