High-stakes CBO score to guide Senate on Obamacare repeal

The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday is set to release a new score for the American Health Care Act, the legislation passed by House Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare, that will project government savings and how many people could become uninsured if the bill were to become law.

The new score follows amendments that were made to the bill allowing states to opt out of certain Obamacare insurance requirements and adding billions of dollars to pay for patients with high-cost medical needs.

House Republicans drew criticism from Democrats for passing the American Health Care Act without an updated CBO score that included those changes. Previous estimates showed that over a decade Medicaid would be cut by $880 billion, the number of uninsured would increase by 24 million and the deficit would be reduced by $150 billion.

The results have high stakes politically. Previous scores worried centrist House members, 20 of whom voted against the American Health Care Act, and contributed to the bill's vast unpopularity by the general public. The latest version will help inform the Senate in how it decides to write its bill. Members are meeting about the legislation over Capitol Hill lunches three times a week, and a working group of about a dozen senators meets twice a week.

"The CBO score will matter to us," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. "It might matter even to the House based on what the score is. I think it is unlikely to have any reason for the House to act again."