WASHINGTON _ The health care bill Senate Republican leaders unveiled last week would increase the number of people in the U.S. without health coverage by 22 million and push up medical costs for millions of other poor and sick Americans, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The report, which follows a similar assessment of related legislation passed by the House last month, outlines a widespread erosion in basic health protections under Republican legislation rolling back the Affordable Care Act.
The budget office report heightens the political challenge for Senate GOP leaders, who are scrambling to lock down votes in order to move their Obamacare repeal bill out of the Senate this week before Congress adjourns for its July 4 recess.
Several GOP senators are fretting publicly about the effect of the legislation on poor and sick Americans in the face of widespread condemnation of the Senate proposal by patient advocates, physicians and other health care groups. They have said the budget office assessment would be an important factor in their decisions on the bill.
