Wonkbook: Republicans should be alarmed about this sentence in the CBO's new health-care report

By Max Ehrenfreund The Congressional Budget Office released... | Sponsored by Qualcomm   The latest economic and domestic policy from Wonkblog   Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi speak following a meeting with U.S.President Barack Obama on congressional Republicans' effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 4, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque By Max Ehrenfreund The Congressional Budget Office released its assessment of the latest version of House Republicans health-care bill on Wednesday, and if Republicans were hoping for big changes this time around, they didn't get them. The new score looks a lot like the old one: 23 million people would lose their insurance under this version, CBO says, as compared with 24 million under the last one. What they got instead is a new sentence in the report that could be particularly alarming for GOP policymakers. Under the GOP plan, the report states, "about one-sixth of the population resides in areas in which the nongroup market would start to become unstable beginning in 2020." To break that down: The "areas" the report refers to are mostly red states, and the "nongroup market" refers to people who do not have health insurance through an employer or through the government. And "unstable" means that people in those two categories who have preexisting medical problems might no longer be able to buy insurance. Eventually, according to the report released Wednesday, markets in those states would resemble markets before Obamacare was implemented. Less healthy consumers would not be able to afford coverage, because insurers would be able to examine their medical histories and charge them more if they were likely to need expensive treatment in the future. ADVERTISEMENT   Republicans have claimed that their bill would maintain Obamacare's protections for those people, but according to the CBO report, about one-sixth of the total U.S. population could be at risk if they have preexisting problems. Those patients would generally live in red states. Read more on Wonkblog An update at Carrier Carrier, the company President Trump pledged to keep on American soil, informed the state of Indiana this week that it will soon begin cutting 632 workers from an Indianapolis factory. The manufacturing jobs will move to Monterrey, Mexico, where the minimum wage is $3.90. That was never supposed to happen, according to Trump's campaign promises. He told Indiana residents at a rally last year there was a "100 percent chance" he would save the jobs at the heating and air-conditioning manufacturer. About 1,400 positions were on the chopping block, per company estimates. Over the past year, Trump has claimed he could maintain at least 1,100 of those jobs in the United States. But on Monday, the company gave official notice to Indiana officials that it would start laying off workers at the factory on July 20 and keep slashing staff until approximately 800 factory employees remain. Danielle Paquette has more on Wonkblog.   Most Recent Posts from Wonkblog Budget debate: Bring it on If we're going to weed out the undeserving poor, what about the undeserving rich? By Steven Pearlstein  •  Read more »   The most alarming sentence for Republicans in CBO’s new health-care report The official score is not pretty. By Max Ehrenfreund  •  Read more »   Trump said he would save jobs at Carrier. The layoffs start July 20. Some workers get to keep their jobs. Others don't. By Danielle Paquette  •  Read more » Trump official in charge of food stamps departs from Trump's plan to gut the program Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue reaffirmed Wednesday that he still does not believe the food stamp system is "broken" or requires fundamental change. By Caitlin Dewey  •  Read more »   Fed forecasts rate hike ‘soon,’ details plan to trim balance sheet If economic data are strong, a rate hike could come "soon," the minutes said. By Ana Swanson  •  Read more »   Trump administration warns tax receipts are coming in slowly, government could run out of cash sooner than expected Budget chief Mick Mulvaney said the White House did not have a "stated policy yet" on what Congress should do about the debt ceiling. By Damian Paletta and Max Ehrenfreund  •  Read more »   Donald Trump’s $10 trillion magic asterisk Trump is promising to make the economy party like it's 1999. But if he can't deliver, the rest of us will pay for it for decades. 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