Must-Read: Haley Byrd: CBO on Health Care Bill: Sick People Could Face Higher Premiums and Even Be Priced Out of the Market

Must-Read: Crocodile tears from House Republican Tea Party Caucus Chair Mark Meadows:

Haley Byrd: CBO on Health Care Bill: Sick People Could Face Higher Premiums and Even Be Priced Out of the Market: “Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.)… hadn’t read the full report… said he saw it as “good news”… http://ijr.com/2017/05/881482-cbo-health-care-bill-sick-people-face-higher-premiums-even-priced-market/

…Meadows seemed surprised. “Well, that’s not what I read,” Meadows said, putting on his reading glasses and peering at the paragraph on the phone of a nearby reporter. The CBO predicted: “…the waivers in those states would have another effect: Community-rated premiums would rise over time, and people who are less healthy (including those with preexisting or newly acquired medical conditions) would ultimately be unable to purchase comprehensive non-group health insurance at premiums comparable to those under current law, if they could purchase it at all — despite the additional funding that would be available under H.R. 1628 to help reduce premiums.”…

After reading the paragraph, Meadows told reporters he would go through the CBO analysis more thoroughly and run the numbers, adding he would work to make sure the high-risk pools are properly funded. Meadows, suddenly emotional, choked back tears and said, “Listen, I lost my sister to breast cancer. I lost my dad to lung cancer. If anybody is sensitive to preexisting conditions, it’s me. I’m not going to make a political decision today that affects somebody’s sister or father because I wouldn’t do it to myself”…