https://twitter.com/jrsalzman/status/841392516507279360
The CBO is out with its report on the American Health Care Act, aka “Trumpcare,” and as expected, chaos has ensued. One of the sticking points has to do with the projected number of people who will no longer be insured once the AHCA takes effect:
BREAKING: Congress’ nonpartisan budget analyst says 14 million would lose coverage next year under Republican health plan.
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 13, 2017
CBO predicts GOP health-care plan would leave 24 million more without insurance in 9 yrs. It would reduce deficit by $337 billion.
— Jodi Enda (@JAEnda1) March 13, 2017
Holy cow!! CBO finds GOP health care bill would cause 24 million Americans to lose health insurance within a decade https://t.co/VEhMHj4lhA
— Dana Nuccitelli (@dana1981) March 13, 2017
Remember the 24 million people losing their health care is a feature not a bug for Paul Ryan
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) March 13, 2017
Wow. Sounds pretty bad, right? Here’s the thing, though:
The key here is the verb. It's wrong to say someone "loses" health insurance if he opts out of it.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) March 13, 2017
The correct term is "14 million would not be required to buy insurance."
Not "lose insurance." https://t.co/HQvEQb7CjR
— RBe (@RBPundit) March 13, 2017
So it's not "24 million people who have insurance now will lose it." That is an inaccurate interpretation of what CBO just said.
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) March 13, 2017
False.
CBO predicts 24 million people will CHOOSE to be without insurance. They won't LOSE anything. https://t.co/Qrk1zYkErG
— RBe (@RBPundit) March 13, 2017
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So for "most" of the 14 million, it's not so much that they'll "lose coverage" but that they'll "stop being forced to have coverage". ? pic.twitter.com/jXQcaWMwYL
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) March 13, 2017
Tfw you realize people stop buying insurance when they aren't forced to by law
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) March 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/Thomasismyuncle/status/841396186913394689
https://twitter.com/JayCostTWS/status/841384405511860225
Yes, it is. Report says if you stop forcing people to buy it, a lot of them will stop. https://t.co/tZjZNkRuXT
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) March 13, 2017
Yep:
https://twitter.com/AlexPappas/status/841385180757659649
https://twitter.com/petersuderman/status/841383311087943680
That’s kind of an important detail, no?
https://twitter.com/ellencarmichael/status/841389702905249793
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/841388674407378945
“Curious.” https://t.co/x6K1kDq2kN
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) March 13, 2017
Except it’s really not all that curious, is it?
It doesn't matter what the truth is anyway.
The media has already chosen the narrative. Truth and reality have no place within it. https://t.co/h97nOSsI6n
— RBe (@RBPundit) March 13, 2017
Only the hack media could take "people will choose not to get insurance" and turn it into "people will lose insurance."
— RBe (@RBPundit) March 13, 2017
That doesn't mean it's a good bill, but the outrage and panic without context from reporters undermine legitimate arguments against it.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) March 13, 2017
The AHCA has proven to be nothing if not a huge headache for the GOP, and with good reason. But if liberals and the media want to mount serious arguments against it, they’re going to have to do a lot of brushing up on their reading comprehension skills first.
We’ll leave you with this:
Interesting point on the CBO score from @baseballcrank: https://t.co/YJkkoIwKhp
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) March 13, 2017
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.
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