By the time the Senate deals with the House’s American Healthcare Act, President Trump will likely already turn 71. His birthday is June 14.

That older chap will be covered, but if the healthcare bill becomes law, an estimated 23 million more people than now will lose their health insurance, the latest Congressional Budget Office report released yesterday shows.

“People age 50 to 64 would be particularly hit hard, especially those with lower incomes,”  AARP notes in a blog.

The huge CBO takeaway nugget, it says:  A 64-year-old earning $26,500 a year would face insurance costs that would increase $14,400 in 2026.

And remember those promises that Trump made about covering people with pre-existing conditions?

Well, that was a pre-existing statement that apparently wasn’t meant to stick.

“People with pre-existing conditions may not even be able to purchase health insurance because the prices would be prohibitively high,” the AARP notes.

Obviously, the Senate will be making many changes to the healthcare bill. A big question rests with the pre-existing conditions.  And maybe there are some second thoughts in the House? Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-NC, became emotional and revealed his surprise about the pre-existing condition issue noted by the CBO. He mentioned his  own family’s battles with cancer, according to the Independent Journal Review

“Listen, I lost my sister to breast cancer,” Meadows is quoted as saying.  “I lost my dad to lung cancer. If anybody is sensitive to pre-existing conditions, it’s me. I’m not going to make a political decision today that affects somebody’s sister or father because I wouldn’t do it to myself.”

Among the other problematic issues,  the AARP says: Possible instability in individual insurance markets and the potential difficulties for less healthy people in states that receive waivers to allow insurers to eliminate coverage for essential benefits.

Quoting the CBO report: in states receiving the waivers, “less healthy people would face extremely high premiums,” the AARP says.

“The CBO analysis found that premiums would go up to unaffordable levels by inflicting an age tax and removing current protections for people with common conditions including diabetes and weight gain,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President in a statement.

“Putting a greater financial burden on older Americans is not the way to solve the problems in our health care system,” she said.

The huge number that doesn’t get much attention, but wow: The CBO report noted that by 2026, an estimated 51 million people under age 65 would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law.

When you turn 71, Mr. President, think of other older people, including septuagenarians like yourself. Those people who may count on the government for healthcare, but may not get it.

–  Joe Cantlupe