Obamacare Replacement Plan Gets ‘F’ Rating from Consumer Reports

The GOP’s health care plan received an “F” report card from Consumers Union, the policy arm of Consumer Reports.

The failing grade comes just days after the GOP unveiled the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which is designed to replace the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Consumers Union says:

As proposed, the bill would lead to tens of millions of consumers losing their insurance coverage (with poorer health outcomes and more premature deaths as a result), higher premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for many others, devastating cuts to Medicaid, and incentives for healthy people to stay out of the insurance market altogether. This is not the future that Americans deserve and is, simply, unacceptable.

Consumer Union graded the AHCA as follows:

• The replacement ensures broad enrollment in coverage: F
• Coverage must provide meaningful access to healthcare: F
• Coverage and healthcare marketplaces must be easy to navigate: F
• Reforms must address underlying reasons for high costs: F
• National standard that sets basic consumer protections: F

After reviewing the AHCA’s dismal report card from Consumers Union, Ben D’Avanzo, a senior policy analyst at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, tweeted:

Would you buy a toaster that Consumers Reports gave an F? Not me. We should be pretty worried about their grade of the ACA repeal plan.

The AHCA has already faced fierce criticism from many quarters — including from some Republicans — and might be a tough sell.

The Congressional Budget Office says the ACA-replacement plan would reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion over 10 years, but it would leave an estimated 24 million Americans without insurance.

Laura MacCleery, vice president of policy and mobilization for Consumer Reports, says:

“The Congressional Budget Office confirmed the grave doubts we’ve had about the American Health Care Act. Lawmakers promised ‘more for less’ but this bill delivers the opposite – fewer people with skimpier coverage and higher costs. … Despite the many budgetary tricks in this bill to disguise the true cost of this legislation, lawmakers can no longer hide the fact that this bill would leave millions uninsured.”

For more on this topic, check out “6 Ways the Obamacare Overhaul Might Impact Your Wallet.”

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