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Donald Trump at a press conference on Friday during which he accused James Comey of lying under oath.
The White House blasted the Congressional Budget Office on Monday, hours after the nonpartisan agency predicted devastating effects for the proposed Senate healthcare bill."The CBO has consistently proven it cannot accurately predict how healthcare legislation will impact insurance coverage," the White House said in a statement.
"This history of inaccuracy, as demonstrated by its flawed report on coverage, premiums, and predicted deficit arising out of Obamacare, reminds us that its analysis must not be trusted blindly."
Earlier on Monday, the CBO projected 22 million fewer people would have health coverage under the Better Care Reconciliation Act than under the current healthcare system.
That figure is only marginally better than the 23 million projected to lose coverage under the previous incarnation of the bill, the American Health Care Act, passed by the House of Representatives in May.
However, the White House attempted to discredit the CBO by pointing to the agency's 2010 analysis of Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.
"In 2013, the CBO estimated that 24 million people would have coverage under Obamacare by 2016," the White House statement said. "It was off by an astounding 13 million people - more than half - as less than 11 million were actually covered."
On the other hand, the CBO also overestimated how much the ACA would cost, according to The Washington Post.
In a report on Monday, The Post pointed out the problem with criticizing the CBO:
Republicans are correct that CBO's forecasts for Obamacare did prove inaccurate in some important respects, as well as that, on several occasions, the agency revised its initial projections. But outside the spin room, health-care experts on both sides of the aisle say that CBO is reliably nonpartisan, and that while perfectly forecasting the consequences of complicated legislation is essentially impossible, information from CBO is important for lawmakers to consider.
Read the full White House statement below:
"The CBO has consistently proven it cannot accurately predict how healthcare legislation will impact insurance coverage. This history of inaccuracy, as demonstrated by its flawed report on coverage, premiums, and predicted deficit arising out of Obamacare, reminds us that its analysis must not be trusted blindly In 2013, the CBO estimated that 24 million people would have coverage under Obamacare by 2016. It was off by an astounding 13 million people - more than half-as less than 11 million were actually covered. Then, CBO estimated that 30 million fewer people would be uninsured in 2016, but then it had to reduce its estimate to 22 million, further illustrating its inability to present reliable healthcare predictions.
We know the facts. To date, we have seen average individual market premiums more than double and insurers across the country opting out of healthcare exchanges. As more and more people continue to lose coverage and face fewer healthcare choices, President Trump is committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare, which has failed the American people for far too long."