Last Thursday, Senate Republicans revealed their plan for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act - and in case you were holding your breath in hopes that it might be an improved version of the one the House released in May, don't.
The New York Timesreports that according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency, 22 million Americans would lose insurance by 2026 under the Senate's new health care bill - and it's only a slight improvement over the CBO's prediction for the House's American Health Care Act, which estimated 23 million fewer Americans would be insured by the same date.
The bill would reduce deficits by $321 billion over the next decade, but it comes at a cost: as soon as next year, 15 million people could already become uninsured if the Senate's health care bill were to pass.
The CBO's analysis of the bill was highly anticipated by many GOP senators who are still on the fence about whether to support it. Five Republican senators have already voiced their opposition to the bill, and only three more would be required to vote against it in order for it to not pass.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader and one of the bill's chief writers, has insisted on a final vote before legislators take a recess for July 4th - meaning we could know whether the new bill has passed by the end of the week.
