WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Monday that he is “encouraged” by an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that found the Republican health care proposal would result in 24 million more uninsured Americans by 2026.
“I think if you read this entire report, I’m pretty encouraged by it, and it actually exceeded my expectations,” Ryan told Fox News.
“We’re saying the government’s not going to force people to buy something they don’t want to buy,” he added. “And if we end an Obamacare mandate that says you must buy this government, one-size-fits-all plan, guess what, people aren’t going to buy that. So, of course, they’re going to suggest that if we’re not going to make people do something they don’t want to do, they’re not going to do it.”
As HuffPost reported Monday, the CBO score found that by 2026 the Republican plan to repeal and “replace” the Affordable Care Act would increase the number of Americans without health coverage by 24 million and reduce the federal budget deficit by $337 billion.
Echoing what he said in a statement released earlier Monday, Ryan told Fox News he’s “encouraged” and “excited” that the CBO report confirmed the Republican plan will lower premiums and improve access to health care. He also stressed that Obamacare “is in the middle of a collapse.”
“This compared to the status quo is far better,” he said.
Ryan’s response to the CBO analysis was strikingly different than that of President Donald Trump’s White House, which essentially has said the findings can’t be trusted.
“We think that CBO simply has it wrong,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said in a news conference Monday.