angry dad macarthur townhall
Dad confronts lawmaker over health care bill
01:01 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

MacArthur played key role in crafting a compromise bill that passed the House

CBO says bill would leave 23 million fewer Americans with health insurance by 2026

Stepped down from the moderate "Tuesday Group"

Washington CNN  — 

New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur, the co-author of a key amendment added to the House GOP Obamacare bill, said he disagrees with the Congressional Budget Office report released Wednesday showing some provisions of the bill could de-stabilize markets and impact those with pre-existing conditions seeking coverage.

“I’ll put my knowledge of the insurance market against CBO’s knowledge of the insurance market,” MacArthur said when asked about the analysis of the amendment providing states to opt out of some insurance regulations, noting he spent 30 years in the industry.

The nonpartisan CBO report found that that the House GOP bill would leave 23 million fewer Americans with health insurance by 2026 than under the Obamacare.

“I respect the CBO’s role but just because a group of auditors down the block has created a model that has a lot of ‘if’s,’ ‘ands’ and ‘maybes’ looking out 10 years doesn’t make that the gospel. That is somebody’s opinion at CBO. I have a different opinion,” he said.

“It does not destabilize markets when you cover people with pre-existing conditions on the much broader shoulders of the taxpayer, and then you allow the rest of people to have lower premiums and an insurance market that actually works for them,” MacArthur added.

He noted this is the same CBO who predicted that there would be 22 million people in ACA exchanges in 2016 and there were 10 million, saying “they were off by 120%. That’s a staggering error.”

MacArthur, who previously served as co-chair of a group of moderate House Republicans called the “Tuesday Group,” came under sharp criticism from fellow centrists for negotiating a deal with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus that helped smooth passage of the House health care overhaul. After the incident divided the group MacArthur resigned his leadership post in the group Tuesday.

He sidestepped questions about how the report would impact the Senate Republicans’ work to craft their own Obamacare repeal and replace bill, but said he had spoken to several senators about several provisions of the legislation.

MacArthur said he planned to read the report carefully Wednesday night.