Republican plan leaves 14m fewer with health insurance in 2018: US budget office

Washington

FOURTEEN million fewer Americans will have health insurance next year under the Republican plan to replace Obamacare, a nonpartisan congressional analysis projected on Monday, heaping pressure on President Donald Trump to make good on his pledge to broaden coverage.

By 2026 that number would shoot up to 24 million, the Congressional Budget Office said, largely because the bill would undo the Obamacare rule mandating people to have health insurance.

It also said that the measure currently before Congress - backed by Mr Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan - would reduce the federal deficit by US$337 billion over the next decade.

Part of that reduction comes from the plan's phase-out of the Medicaid e…