WASHINGTON, DC – Today, after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new analysis showing 16 million people will lose coverage from the Republican reconciliation plan, including their failure to extend premium tax credits that Americans use to buy affordable health insurance, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) issued the following statement:

“The Republican-plan would rip health care away from working people in order to fund a bigger tax windfall for the ultra-wealthy.

“Republicans continue to try to mislead the American people about their true intentions, but this CBO report makes it very clear that under the Republican plan, 16 million Americans will lose their health care and health costs will go up for millions more. 

“The America people aren’t fooled by misleading Republican sales pitches and gravity-defying claims that you can somehow slash hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and not reduce care or services for a single person.  They can see Republicans are trying to effectively dismantle the Affordable Care Act.  The CBO report is clear: Republicans are trying to rip people’s health care away through a variety of tactics, including increased bureaucratic red tape and higher out-of-pocket costs.

“Republicans should halt this foolish, big ugly bill and start working with Democrats on a bipartisan, fiscally responsible package that includes targeted tax cuts for the middle-class, not just the wealthy few, and strengthens Medicaid instead of slashing hundreds of billions of health dollars.”

The CBO was established in 1974 under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act to give Congress independent, objective budgetary and economic analyses.