Now that the ghastly CBO score for AHCA is a matter of public record, you can expect the GOP to respond in two ways. The first, naturally, is to attempt to discredit the CBO, which is led by experts that were handpicked by the GOP itself; the second is to argue that AHCA is about “freedom,” not the number of uninsured.
Republicans love “freedom.” What it means in any given case depends on who you are. The “freedom” Republicans aspire to most is “freedom” for wealthy people to avoid paying taxes. For some reason, the “freedom” to be uninsured doesn’t have the same cachet among the medically needy; it has about the same value as the “freedom” to be hungry or homeless.
If AHCA were truly about “freedom,” the GOP could have simply struck all of the mandates from Obamacare and left the rest intact. It is true, of course, that any such legislation would have roiled the markets, but, if “freedom” is really an overriding objective, that would be a price worth paying, and the 30 percent surcharge is going to damage the markets in any event. If, on the other hand, AHCA were about limited government, it would be a straight repeal of Obamacare.
No, AHCA is simply a mechanism to redistribute wealth from the poor and medically needy to the wealthy. That’s not what I call “freedom.”