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March 13, 2017 12:49 PM UTC

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

  • 11 Comments
  • 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.”

—–

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.

—–

Rep. Mike Coffman (R).

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:

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11 thoughts on “Coffman would vote for GOP health care bill “in its current form””

  1. Four points need to be made over and over again about Trump's healthcare legislation. First, millions of people are going to lose insurance coverage that they had under the Obamacare. 

    Second, it won't be just the poor who will lose coverage with the contraction of Medicaid. Older Americans who are covered under Obamacare will be charged 5 times more, instead of 3 times more under existing law, for health insurance. Older Americans and the poor will lose their health insurance. They will be back in the emergency rooms and those of us with insurance will pay higher premiums to cover their care.

    Third, during the campaign, Mr. Trump unequivocally promised that his healthcare replacement for Obamacare would cover more Americans at less the cost. Mr. Coffman made the same promise. Obviously, their bill does exactly the opposite – its far less coverage at higher premiums.

    Fourth, Obamacare is not imploding contrary to the hype being pedaled by Messrs. Ryan and Trump and they know it. They point to Arizona but nationwide, health insurance markets have stabilized and premiums for this year increased by single digits or actually declined by single digits in many states.

    The Republican policy is based on fear and boils down to this: If you don't accept what little insignificant insurance we have to offer, you won't have any insurance at all. Its a lie and the Republicans know it but they desperately need a justification for their plan to throw millions of Americans under the bus.

    1. Well well well, the CBO just released its report on Mr. Trump's healthcare legislation:

      14 Million individuals will lose their health insurance in 2018 (next year)_.

      Two thirds of those covered by Obamacare now will lose their health insurance. Mr. Trump and the Republicans specifically pledged that their plan would cover more people and cost less. Obviously, they had no intention of fulfilling that promise but in the meantime tried to hoodwink us into believing they had. In plain English – the President and the Republicans in the House and Senate lied to us. There is no other way to look at this.

      And they said Obamacare was imploding. Mr. Trump and the Republicans in the House and Senate are intentionally imploding the health insurance of 14 million Americans. Trying to convince us otherwise is shameful and immoral.

      What say you now Congressman Coffman. Isn’t it time to hold a real town meeting and find out what your constituents think about this?

      1. But, but, but, you're using the wrong metric. Speaker of the House Ryan says that the ACHA-ooo isn't about insurance. It is about the freedom to choose insurance. Well, also to cut medicaid, because you know those poor people are just buying too much healthcare. They need some skin in the game, so deductibles need to go up.

        And Chaffetz says that you should stop buying a new iPhone every month and instead buy health care.

        Actually the ACHA-ooo act is an unqualified success if you measure it by the  $200,000 tax break for the super-wealthy. 

      3. I could hear Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer now:

        They're not lies. They're alternative facts.

        And the 14 million who will lose their insurance were all illegals who voted in California and gave Hillary her popular vote win.

        The CBO is a part of the Deep State.

        The 14 million will still have access.

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