Experts warn that there are some potential problems brewing for the GOP healthcare bill. Two weeks after the House passed their Obamacare repeal bill, the GOP has yet to submit the bill to the Senate, according to Bloomberg. They await the report from the CBO, expected next week, and that report could potentially force the GOP to revote and/or redo their bill. The crucial problem revolves around the strict and complex rules associated with Reconciliation, the procedural move being used by Republicans to pass this bill in the Senate without obtaining any Democratic support. The two problems get a little wonky and I am no healthcare law or congressional law expert, so feel free to go to either or both of these websites to review the arguments from someone more knowledgeable: Here or Here. The Problems: The HealthCare Bill may cause too many to sign up for healthcare - In order to use reconciliation, the bill must save the Federal Government at least $2 Billion. The previous CBO report noted that an estimated 24 million individuals will lose their healthcare insurance under the old plan. If the new plan only cuts 14 million individuals from the insurance pool, then it is possible that this new bill will COST the US Government an additional $115 Billion. The Last Minute Funding May Also Have Been Too Much - At the last minute, the Republicans added some money to the emergency fund in order to keep moderates in line. The problem is that the "must save 2 Billion" rule should be more accurately described as "each of two committees must save 1 Billion." The estimates are such that, as of now, the new law could potentially cost the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee an additional $6 Billion. We will just have to wait and see what happens with the CBO projections.
