All major legislation produces winners and losers, but some conservatives insist the Republican healthcare bills have no downside. The CBO predicts over 20 million fewer Americans will have health insurance, but Paul Ryan says none of them wanted it anyway. The bills reduce Medicaid spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, but defenders say that money wouldn't improve anyone's health.
These arguments are a stretch, a transparent attempt to hide the fact that the bills worsen health outcomes for poor Americans in exchange for cutting taxes, primarily on investment income. The CBO estimates the bill under consideration in the Senate reduces spending by $1.02 trillion and cuts taxes by $701 billion over 10 years. Over half of those tax cuts go to individuals making over $200,000 a year ($250,000 for couples).
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