CBO: Repealing Obamacare would increase deficit by $109 billion

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Repealing all of President Barack Obama’s health care law would increase the federal budget deficit by about $109 billion from 2013 to 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

House Republicans have voted more than 30 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, claiming the law will increase the deficit, hurt job growth, and make health care more expensive. But in a letterto House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) the CBO explained that the latest repeal bill, H.R. 6079, would reduce spending by $890 billion but slash revenues by $1 trillion.

“Deficits would be increased under H.R. 6079 because the net savings from eliminating the insurance coverage provisions would be more than offset by the combination of other spending increases and revenue reductions,” CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf explained.

H.R. 6079 was passed in the House on July 11, but like the many repeal bills before it, has no chance of surviving the Democratic-led Senate.

Previously, the CBO had estimated that repealing the Affordable Care Act would increase the national budget deficit by $940 billion. But it revised its estimate in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which allowed states to opt out of the law’s Medicaid expansion.

“What we know from today’s CBO report, as well as from similar reports from CBO and the Medicare actuary, is that the new health care law is dramatically increasing health care spending and costs – costs to our economy, costs to taxpayers, and costs to states,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement. “In addition, today’s report also shows that taxes will increase by more than $1 trillion under Obamacare. The House has already acted to repeal this deeply flawed law and the Senate should do the same.”

Wisconsin Dem slams passage of House ‘Obamacare’ repeal bill

By Kay Steiger/Raw Story

House Republicans voted to repeal what they dub “Obamacare” in a 244-185 vote on Wednesday, even after the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act last month.

“Same crap, different day,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) told Raw Story. “They’ve always been against Social Security, against Medicare, Medicaid. This is just a different day in their history of not wanting to expand the social contract for anybody other than those people who are endowed. … The success of the Affordable Care Act will reduce profits to their constituencies.”

“When you repeal health care, the disproportionate effect is going to fall on women,” she said. “You can talk about intentions if you want, but the effect is going to harm women.”

“Misogyny reigns, as usual,” she said. “Of course it will benefit women more than men. Women are twice as likely to be dependents on their husbands, simply because many of us are still employed in the pink collar sector, where there is no health care available.”

“The ability to be independent of a man is always going to be a threat in our society,” she said. “Because of our reproductive capacity, there’s an awful lot of care that I’ve fought for; making mammograms mandatory, making contraception mandatory.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told Raw Story and other bloggers, “This is a very personal experience for me as a breast cancer survivor.”

“Worrying about whether you’re going to be able to get all of the treatment is a real issue,” she said.

The legislation, which marks House Republicans’ 31st effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, has little chance of being taken up in the Senate.

Rep. Barbara Lee blasts ‘meaningless’ Obamacare repeal vote

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) slammed House Republicans on Tuesday for planning to vote for the 31st time to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“I rise in strong opposition to the GOP’s Patients’ Rights Repeal Act,” she said on the House floor. “Here we go again Mr. Speaker, wasting the American’s people time by voting on this bill.”

Barbara said the “tea party majority” in the House was “disconnected from reality” because they continued to vote on “meaningless” bills “that have no chance of becoming law.”

The bill to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law is expected to be passed by the Republican-led House on Wednesday. But like the 30 bills before it, the legislation has no chance of surviving the Senate.

“Let’s call this what it is, Mr. Speaker,” Barbara continued. “It’s a politically motivated waste of time because Republicans have no serious jobs plan.”

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube on July 10, below: