--- title: AHCA Hurts People With Preexisting Conditions, CBO Says description: The CBO released an analysis of the GOP health care and the projections are not favorable for people with preexisting conditions canonical: https://time.com/4793469/republican-health-care-bill-ahca-prexisting-conditions/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-24T22:49:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:06:30.862Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's How the GOP Health Care Bill Would Hurt 'Less Healthy People' og:description: The Congressional Budget Office's report does not have good news og:url: https://time.com/4793469/republican-health-care-bill-ahca-prexisting-conditions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47f72a7e82a490f2/6988ced60b72e333ef6edf6f/paul-ryan-health-care-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: House Speaker Paul Ryan Addresses The Media After Party Conference Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How the GOP Health Care Bill Would Hurt 'Less Healthy People' twitter:description: The Congressional Budget Office's report does not have good news twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47f72a7e82a490f2/6988ced60b72e333ef6edf6f/paul-ryan-health-care-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How the GOP Health Care Bill Would Hurt 'Less Healthy People' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 24, 2017 10:49 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 23: U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) answers questions from reporters at the U.S. Capitol May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Members of the House Republican leadership met with reporters following their weekly caucus meeting. WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 23: U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) answers questions from reporters at the U.S. Capitol May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Members of the House Republican leadership met with reporters following their weekly caucus meeting. Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 24, 2017 10:49 PM UTC The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday [released an analysis of the GOP health care bill](http://time.com/4793159/health-care-bill-cbo-score-republicans/) that narrowly passed in the House this month, and the projections are not good for people with preexisting conditions. According to the [report](https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52752), the latest version of the [American Health Care Act](http://time.com/4790686/health-budget-cuts-white-house/) would cause a staggering increase in premium prices for “less healthy people” — including those with preexisting medical conditions — and make it harder for them to purchase insurance. “… Premiums would vary significantly according to health status and the types of benefits provided, and less healthy people would face extremely high premiums, despite the additional funding that would be available under \[the AHCA\] to help reduce premiums,” the analysis reads. “Over time, it would become more difficult for less healthy people (including people with preexisting medical conditions) in those states to purchase insurance because their premiums would continue to increase rapidly,” the report adds. Should the bill pass in the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump, CBO’s report projects that 14 million would lose health insurance by next year — that number would climb to 23 million by 2026. The legislation is expected to face a [substantial challenge in the Senate](http://time.com/4767856/health-care-vote-senate-republicans-mitch-mcconnell/). Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday expressed doubt on whether the bill could garner enough support to pass in its current form. “I don’t know how we get to 50 at the moment,” Mr. McConnell [told Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-mcconnell-exclusive-idUSKBN18K2FD). “But that’s the goal.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4793469/republican-health-care-bill-ahca-prexisting-conditions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4793469/republican-health-care-bill-ahca-prexisting-conditions/"},"headline":"Here's How the GOP Health Care Bill Would Hurt 'Less Healthy People'","datePublished":"2017-05-24T22:49:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:06:30.862Z","description":"Premiums would be higher, and insurance would be more difficult to buy","url":"https://time.com/4793469/republican-health-care-bill-ahca-prexisting-conditions/","keywords":["Health Care","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47f72a7e82a490f2/6988ced60b72e333ef6edf6f/paul-ryan-health-care-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47f72a7e82a490f2/6988ced60b72e333ef6edf6f/paul-ryan-health-care-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"House Speaker Paul Ryan Addresses The Media After Party Conference Meeting","caption":"House Speaker Paul Ryan Addresses The Media After Party Conference Meeting","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4793469/republican-health-care-bill-ahca-prexisting-conditions/","name":"Here's How the GOP Health Care Bill Would Hurt 'Less Healthy People'"}}]}] ```