March 13, 2017 12:49 PM UTC

Coffman would vote for GOP health care bill “in its current form"

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Coffman commits to “Trumpcare” – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE #2: Rep. Diana DeGette weighs in strongly on the CBO’s new analysis:

“The truth is now plain for all to see: This Trumpcare bill will take a terrible toll, both in human and financial terms,” DeGette said. “It will deprive 14 million people of insurance in its first year alone, and 24 million by 2026. Premiums will spike by 25 percent 2018 and 20 percent in 2019, on top of projected increases under the current law. It will raise health costs on the middle class while giving tax breaks to the very wealthy, while pushing working families out of health coverage altogether.

“Rather than jamming this bad bill through the House for a lopsided, party-line vote as the majority leadership is trying to do, we should sit down together and work on bipartisan solutions to improve what we already have.”

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POLS UPDATE: Apropos, the Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the GOP health care bill Monday.

Rep. Mike Coffman should have kept his mouth shut.

An estimated 14 million Americans could lose their health care coverage in 2018, and 24 million by 2026 under a Republican bill to replace Obamacare, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday in an analysis that could make the controversial legislation even tougher for GOP leaders to push through Congress…

The number of Americans who lose their coverage could rise to 21 million in 2020 and 24 million in 2026 as the GOP plan phases out Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, the CBO said.

“In 2026, an estimated 52 million people would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law,” the analysis said.

The CBO report came as Republican leaders in Congress were already scrambling to keep their fractious caucus together on the bill. Some conservatives have denounced the plan as “Obamacare lite,” arguing that it does not go far enough in scrapping the Affordable Care Act and creates new entitlements by replacing the current law’s federal subsidies for low-income people with tax credits. At the same time, some moderate Republicans in the Senate fear their low-income constituents will lose coverage because the legislation phases out the expansion of Medicaid that Obamacare helped fund in many states.

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If passed, the health care law put forward by congressional Republicans would probably mean six to 15 million Americans would lose their health insurance, according to various outside analysts.

Particularly at risk are people who’ve gained insurance under Obamacare, and U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman’s (R-Aurora) own district has 14,000 such people, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. And it could be even worse, if you believe U.S. House Democrats, who report that 37,800 Medicaid recipients in Coffman’s district could lose their Medicaid health insurance under an Obamacare repeal.

Yet, on KNUS 710-AM Saturday, Coffman said he’d vote for the GOP healthcare bill, “in its current form,” if it came up for a vote today.

Silverman: If you had to vote today, would you vote for the bill that Speaker Ryan has put forth with the blessings of Donald Trump?

Coffman: …In its current form right now, I would vote for it. Obviously, I’m concerned about it being changed and what changes may happen. And I certainly do have some changes to it that I’m pushing. But if I had to vote today on the form that’s there, I would support it.

Coffman’s endorsement of the GOP’s American Health Care Act comes before the Congressional Budget Office is set to release this a much-anticipated analysis of the costs and impact of the GOP bill.

Coffman’s office told 9News last month that he wanted to maintain coverage for people who received it under Obamacare, but the GOP bill does not guarantee this.

“Coffman’s office told us he wants to keep the changes Obamacare made for pre-existing conditions, the ability for parents to keep children on their plans until age 26, and maintaining coverage for people who gained it under the ACA—including the Medicaid expansion, which has been criticized by some of Coffman’s fellow Republicans,” 9News Brandon Rittiman reported Feb. 21.

Coffman’s stance on the Republican bill will surely invite questions from low-income residents of his competitive district.

And it might draw more attention to the image of Coffman exiting early the back door of a library full of people waiting to talk to him about health care.

In their report, Democrats on U.S. House Committees state that the uninsured rate went from 15.8 percent to 7.9 percent in Coffman’s district since Obamacare became law (here at page 99).

Listen to Coffman on KNUS 710-AM’s Craig Silverman Show March 11: