Health and Science

Here's what high-income families stand to gain under GOP health bill

Key Points
  • High-income families would receive significant benefits from the Senate bill's proposed tax cuts.
  • Low-income families would bear the brunt of the reductions in health benefits.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images

Under the GOP's health bill, high-income families are more likely to reap gains, while low-income families could see their health costs rise, according to a new study.

The analysis from the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center reviewed the changes that would come about under the proposed Senate bill to determine the impacts on families of differing incomes. The changes considered were a reduction in revenue, cuts to Medicare, and reductions in taxes and in subsidies for low-income people who use private insurers.

The average family with an income less than $10,000 in 2026 would be $2,550 worse off, a reduction of more than 60 percent of the family's income, the study said.

Meanwhile, the average family with an income more than $200,000 in 2026 would be $5,420 better off, a net increase of 1 percent. And for the average family with an income over $1 million in 2026, they would be $49,000 better off, a 1.5 percent increase in income.

With the tax cuts proposed in the bill, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act, high-income families would benefit the most. Families with incomes over $200,000 would receive 84.6 percent of the tax reductions in 2026. And families with incomes over $1 million would receive 58.9 percent of tax reductions.

Meanwhile, lower-income families would bear the brunt of the bill's proposed reductions in federal funding for health benefits. Families with incomes below $30,000 would sustain nearly three-quarters of the total losses in health benefits.

Senate Republicans have yet to gather enough support to pass their Obamacare replacement bill. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said a revised version of the bill is expected to come Thursday morning.

The groups who conducted the study did an earlier analysis after the House passed its health-care bill in May.

Read the full report here.