Trending News Today: Trump Pushes Senate to Revise AHCA

While children from families with low incomes in California have access to comprehensive health insurance, these children also rank low in economic well-being, according to California Healthline. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the state expanded their Medicaid program to cover millions of previously uninsured children. During this time, the uninsured rate among these children decreased from 9% to 3%; however, more than 21% of children in California live in poverty, which could impact health, according to the article.

During a meeting yesterday, President Donald Trump urged GOP Senators to draft and pass a more generous replacement plan for the ACA than the House version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), Reuters reported. The AHCA has been criticized over claims that the bill would impact access to healthcare for patients with pre-existing conditions. During the meeting, Trump described the House bill as “mean,” and now may be seeking to offer additional funding to the bill, according to the article.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Office of the Actuary released a report yesterday that found the AHCA would leave 12.6 million Americans without insurance over the next 10 years, while also cutting federal spending by $328 billion, according to Politico. Previously, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would leave 23 million Americans without insurance and save $119 billion over the next decade. The new report predicts that a majority of insurance losses will happen due to the reversal of Medicaid expansion and the implementation of new eligibility criteria, Politico reported.