Public News Service: GOP Health Bill Would Deliver Tax Breaks to the Wealthiest

Alan Essig, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says data from the Congressional Budget Office confirms that the health bill that cleared the U.S. House is less about health policy than tax breaks for the top 3 percent of U.S. earners.

“The end result is 23 million people losing health care coverage,” he points out. “The reason for that is to pay for $660 billion worth of tax cuts that overwhelmingly go to the wealthiest Americans.”

Under the Affordable Care Act, low and moderate income Americans have been able to get coverage due to a tax on individuals making more than $200,000 a year, or $250,000 for couples filing jointly.

Supporters of the AHCA say cuts to Medicaid and reversing the program’s expansion would reduce the federal deficit and lower health-care costs.

Essig says the majority of Medicaid recipients who could be impacted by cuts would be older Americans, people with disabilities, pregnant women and children. Read more