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 comes just days after President Donald Trump called for a bill "with heart" _ outlines how the GOP plan would cause a widespread erosion in basic health protections, driven by more than $1 trillion dollars in cuts to federal health care spending over the next decade.
Some consumers "would experience substantial increases in what they would spend on health care," the budget office analysis said. Because insurance under the Senate bill "would pay for a smaller average share of benefits," it found, "most people purchasing it would have higher out-of-pocket spending on health care than under current law."
The report heightens the political challenge for Senate Republican leaders, who are scrambling to lock down votes to advance their Obamacare repeal bill this week before Congress adjourns for its July 4 recess.
The legislation, developed in secret by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has only been public since Thursday.
Now, in the face of condemnation from patient advocates, physicians, hospitals and others, several GOP senators are fretting about the bill's impact, particularly on poor and sick patients.
Senators have said the report from the budget office, which Congress has traditionally relied on for estimates of the impact of major legislation, would be important to their decision on how to vote.
A key moment could come as early as Wednesday with a procedural vote allowing the Senate to begin debate on the bill.
On Monday, the American Medical Association added to the pressure, sending Senate leaders a blunt warning: "Congress should be working to increase the number of Americans with access to quality, affordable health insurance instead of pursuing policies that have the opposite effect," the medical group said.
