Revealed: Whopping 73 Percent of CBO's 'Lost Coverage' Estimate Comes From Individual Mandate Repeal - Guy Benson

Revealed: Whopping 73 Percent of CBO's 'Lost Coverage' Estimate Comes From Individual Mandate Repeal - Guy Benson:
"Conservative healthcare policy wonk Avik Roy, a strong supporter of the imperiled Senate healthcare bill, wrote an eye-opening analysis over the weekend.  
He examined and applied leaked data in order to demonstrate how the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office would score any GOP Obamacare replacement bill as "denying" coverage to at least 16 million Americans.  
That's due to CBO's fanatical belief in the power of the existing law's individual mandate tax, an article of faith to which they've clung, despite hard contradictory evidence.  
For the first time, Roy is able to reveal exactly how heavily -- and dubiously -- CBO leans on the strength the individual mandate in producing its coverage numbers.  
This is vitally important context for the current healthcare debate, both in terms of swatting down Democrats' favorite attack line, as well addressing as moderate Republicans' top hesitancy.  
He begins by noting the bizarre stability of Congressional bookkeepers' "lost" coverage figures, no matter how vastly various Republican-backed 'repeal and replace' measures may differ:

In the national debate over the GOP health reform proposals, one data point has stood out above all others: the estimate, from the Congressional Budget Office, that more than 20 million people would “lose” coverage as a result.And there’s been an odd consistency to the CBO’s projections. Do you want to repeal every word of Obamacare and replace it with nothing? CBO says 22 million fewer people would have health insurance. Do you prefer replacing Obamacare with a system of flat tax credits, in which you get the same amount of assistance regardless of your financial need? CBO says 23 million fewer people would have health insurance. Do you prefer replacing Obamacare with means-tested tax credits, like the Senate bill does, in which the majority of the assistance is directed to those near or below the poverty line? CBO says 22 million fewer people would have health insurance. 22 million, 23 million, 22 million—these numbers are remarkably similar even though the three policies I describe above are significantly different. Why is that?

Read on!