Washington, D.C. – According to estimates released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Kennedy-Dodd health care bill will cost more than $1 trillion and force approximately 23 million Americans to lose their current health insurance.
“Democrats keep saying that if you like the care you have you can keep it, but the facts about their bill don’t support that statement. CBO makes it clear – the Democrats’ plan will force millions of Americans to lose the care they have now,” said Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
“Anyone who says that if you like the care you have, you can keep it under this bill doesn’t have their facts straight.”
CBO released a preliminary analysis today stating that the Kennedy-Dodd bill would cause 15 million Americans who currently have employer-based health insurance to lose that coverage, while another eight million would lose coverage from other sources. CBO concludes that the Democrats’ bill would spend about $1 trillion, and only expand coverage by about 16 million people – just one-third of the uninsured population.
“These early reports from CBO show that this bill will cost too much, cover too few, and cause too many to lose the coverage they enjoy now,” said Enzi, the Senate’s only accountant and the only Senator serving on the HELP, Finance, and Budget committees, which share jurisdiction over health care reform.
“As I have been pleading with my colleagues for many months, today’s report clearly shows that it’s time to go back to the drawing board and work on a bipartisan plan that will ensure access to affordable care for all Americans.”
A copy of the CBO report is available here: http://www.cbo.gov.
