The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, in reaction to the CBO score of the American Health Care Act, AKA Trumpcare:
“Today’s CBO score makes it clear that the bill is terrible for seniors. It is an indirect cut to Social Security for those who have retired but not yet reached the Medicare eligibility age.
Under current law, a 64-year-old with total income of $26,500 pays an average of $1,700 a year for health insurance bought in an ACA exchange. Under the first version of Trumpcare, that premium cost went up to $14,600 — over half her income! And that is before a penny is paid for co-pays or deductibles.
In the current version, that cost goes up even higher — taking over another five percent of her income — to $16,100. That is a whopping 60 percent of her income. She could purchase a policy at a slightly lower cost, if she is in a state which allows insurers to sell her plans that do not cover much. Or, the cost could be higher if she has a pre-existing condition. Since the average Social Security retirement benefit is less than $16,000, seniors would essentially hand their entire Social Security checks over to insurance companies and still not cover all their health care costs.
On top of that massive hike in premiums for older Americans, the bill also cuts over $800 billion from Medicaid, which pays for the majority of nursing home care. It also raids billions of dollars from Medicare’s dedicated funding. This violates Donald Trump’s campaign promise to protect both programs.
Republicans are dismissing the report, even though Paul Ryan handpicked the director of the CBO. But the American people won’t.”
Source: https://www.socialsecurityworks.org/2017/05/25/cbo-score-confirms-trumpcare-disaster-seniors/
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