On CNN, health care expert calls GOP repeal effort “the worst of all bills that the Republicans have offered”

Obamacare architect Ezekial Emanuel: Graham-Cassidy health care bill could kick 32 million people off of insurance and raise premiums 15-20 percent

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the September 22 edition of CNN's New Day:

CHRIS CUOMO (CO-HOST): So, not a single major medical advocacy group is in favor of this. In fact, conversely, they have almost unanimously come out against it, as have all 50 agents of Medicaid representation within all 50 states. I’ve never heard about anything of this scale coming out against a bill. Why? What concerns people like you about what's in this bill?

 

EZEKIAL EMANUEL: Well, this bill in some ways is the worst of all bills that the Republicans have offered. Even Sen. Grassley from Iowa just Wednesday said that there are 10 reasons on substance to vote against this bill. So the president's notion that this is great is just false, even by the Republican Party. The main problem here is that it drastically cuts back the amount of money that would be given to states to support poor people, elderly people who need additional assistance, people in nursing homes, and the disabled. And that cutback is huge, and it actually hits a cliff in 2026 when all of the money for the expansion of the ACA and the exchanges would go away, and traditional Medicare, which has been in place since 1965, would get another very severe haircut in terms of cost. The estimates are 32 million people would lose insurance, and one point, which I don't think many people have mentioned, is the fact that by eliminating the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, premiums are estimated to go up between 15 and 20 percent in the individual market just from this action alone. So it's not like it's going to actually keep costs down. It's going to raise costs for people who have to buy their own insurance. So it's hard to see that there's anything good in this bill. It seems that what's really driving the Republicans is, “we just got to do something. Anything.”

Previously:

CNN's Jake Tapper: “It certainly sounds like the guarantees on pre-existing conditions” in Graham-Cassidy bill “are not actually guarantees”

“Free Democrat ad”: Right-wing media assail Jimmy Kimmel for criticizing Bill Cassidy’s lies about Obamacare repeal

Seven reasons media shouldn't fall for the latest health care “compromise”