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Trumpcare Will Hurt Families' Health-Care Coverage

by Kaitlin Kimont

After political experts and media analysts combed through the GOP’s Obamacare replacement bill, the general consensus was that millions of Americans and some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations were at risk of losing their healthcare under this new plan, should it be passed. Now that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a report confirming those fears (some 14 million are expected to become uninsured), concerns have spiked. Individually speaking, low-income people, women, the elderly, and people with mental illnesses will mostly likely lose their health insurance. But what happens if a mother, father, or a child’s caregiver falls under one of those categories? Out of these millions at risk, how many families will lose health insurance under Trumpcare?

As mentioned, the CBO estimates that 14 million more people in general would become uninsured by next year if Trumpcare is signed into law. By 2026, the number jumps to 24 million more Americans who could become uninsured. Specifically, it reported, "in 2026, an estimated 52 million people would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law." The CBO added,

In 2020, according to CBO and JCT’s estimates, as a result of the insurance coverage provisions of the legislation, 21 million more non-elderly people in the United States would be without health insurance than under current law. By 2026, that number would total 24 million, CBO and JCT estimate.

Just how many families will be affected is a bit difficult to tell at this point, There are a lot of factors to consider and numbers to crunch, because as everyone knows and President Donald Trump just figured out, health care is really complicated. But to put it simply, the American Health Care Act wants to make some major changes to existing laws, so a lot of people and their families could suffer greatly. Essentially, if a parent loses his or her health insurance, their entire family also may be at risk.

Specifically, if a family gets its insurance through Medicaid, they’ll no longer be able to do so by 2020 when Trumpcare plans to completely end its expansion. According to The New York Times, the new bill would “do away with the current system of providing premium subsidies based on people’s income and the cost of insurance where they live” and replace it with tax credits of $2,000 to $4,000 per year based on their age. Many fear the tax credits won’t be sufficient enough and this plan could force many Americans to give up their coverage because it will be too expensive.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images

If a parent gets coverage through their employer, their families could also be at risk of losing healthcare now that the Republican plan no longer requires larger companies to provide affordable insurance for their employees, according to The New York Times. Under Obamacare, companies would face hefty fines and penalties if they did not do so. Now that those penalties could be a thing of the past, employers may be less inclined to keep providing health insurance.

While this threat depends on each individual employer and it's not likely that every large company will pull its employees' health coverage, it's certainly something to could account for lost coverage.

Of those millions of people at risk, many are likely individuals with families that depend on them for health care. It's understandable that many Americans are feeling increasingly nervous about the GOP's healthcare plan now, because if it becomes a law, a lot of people and their families will lose a crucial safety net.