A GOP Whopper About Health Care Coverage

We weren’t the only folks curious about the morning’s claim from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) that the GOP’s health reform bill covers more uninsured Americans than the Democrats’ proposal. The fact checkers at Media Matters were also left scratching their heads, and here’s what they found.

First, Foxx’s claim:

Rep. Foxx claimed the Democratic plan “does not include coverage for 29 million of the 30 million people that Pelosi and President Obama say need health insurance.” She added, “take up the Republican alternative, which covers everyone.”

Next, the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the Democrats’ proposal:

By 2019, CBO and JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people who are uninsured would be reduced by about 36 million, leaving about 18 million nonelderly residents uninsured (about one-third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants). Under H.R. 3962, the share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage would rise from about 83 percent currently to about 96 percent.

And here’s the CBO yesterday on the Republicans’ bill:

CBO and JCT estimate that those provisions would increase federal budget deficits by about $8 billion over the 2010-2019 period, reducing the number of nonelderly people without health insurance by about 3 million in 2019 and leaving about 52 million nonelderly residents uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019—83 percent—would be roughly in line with the current share.

Math is tough, but it doesn’t take Pythagoras to recognize that 36 million is quite a bit more than 3 million — regardless what Virginia Foxx says.