The GOP's health-care plan could jack up premiums 800 percent on low-income seniors

Protesters against the AHCA.
(Image credit: DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images)

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's cost estimate of the American Health Care Act released Wednesday predicted some steep costs for the elderly. Vox's Sarah Kliff reported that low-income Americans over the age of 64 would see premiums increase by a whopping 800 percent under the GOP-backed plan:

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Under ObamaCare, Americans over the age of 64 with an annual income of $26,500 pay a net premium of $1,700. If the AHCA were to become law, that same population would pay a net premium of $13,600.

The score the CBO released Wednesday updates its previous evaluation of the bill, released in March, to reflect changes that Republicans made to the bill before passing it in the House earlier this month. Overall, the updated score predicted an additional 23 million Americans would be uninsured by 2026 if the AHCA were to replace ObamaCare. The bill would reduce the federal deficit by $119 billion.

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