High Court Health Ruling to Increase Uninsured, CBO Says

About 3 million fewer low-income Americans will have health insurance as a result of the Supreme Court decision that threw out part of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The cost of expanding coverage will shrink by $84 billion to $1.168 trillion under the court decision, which voided a requirement that states expand Medicaid coverage for the poor in 2014, the nonpartisan agency said in a report today. At the same time, the report said the per-person cost of expanding aid will increase because some who would have been covered by Medicaid will instead receive more-expensive subsidies to buy private health insurance.

It is the first official estimate of the effects of the June 28 court decision upholding the core requirement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that most Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty. The court threw out a provision requiring states that don’t comply with the Medicaid expansion to lose existing federal Medicaid funding. The court said Congress can require states to meet conditions to receive new Medicaid money. Read more >>