“Real CBO BCRA Headline: No Individual Market Losses in 2018, But Up 1 Million From 2017”

– Josh Archambault in Forbes
Reality check! An analysis by Forbes contributor Josh Archambault reveals surprising flaws in the CBO’s score of the Senate healthcare bill, which concludes 22 million more Americans will be without health coverage by 2026. As Archambault points out, the CBO score is based on an old, inaccurate 2016 CBO estimate of how many Americans will purchase Obamacare. If you use their January 2017 update, Republican legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare would result in only 2 million fewer on the individual market by 2026, and would actually result in no losses and even some gains in enrollment in the years preceding, Archambault estimates.
Click here to read more.

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Anthem Inc.’s decision to leave the Nevada marketplace has created an “Obamacare ‘crisis’ for rural Nevadans,” Bloomberg explains. About 8,000 people in 13 counties and Carson City will be without access to the Obamacare health plans. Bloomberg notes GOP Senator Dean Heller is “playing a major role” in the debate over the future of the Affordable Care Act, and stands in opposition to the Republican Senatorial plan to repair the failing exchanges.

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Michael Needham, the chief executive officer of Heritage Action, writes in Real Clear Politics, Republicans “cannot cede the playing field” on Obamacare repeal and replace because they’re upset with the process. He argues “conservatives are right to fight to improve the bill” where they can, and should evaluate the Senate bill on its own merits and “for the meaningful reforms it contains.”

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In Fox News, Attorney General Jeff Sessions urges Congress to pass Kate’s Lawand the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, two bills “that would make all Americans safer.” Lifezette details how President Trump gathered families “shattered by criminal aliens” to “highlight two bills that face final vote in the House of Representatives before moving on to the Senate.”

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In terms of Energy Week, the Institute for Policy Innovation’s Merrill Matthews writes in The Hill that increased U.S. natural gas production is not only helping reduce U.S. emissions, but other countries are likely to rely on imports of American LNG to do the same. And The Washington Times reports on President Trump’s pledge during a Wednesday roundtable to bring in a “golden age of American energy dominance” by lifting restrictive federal regulations.