STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Alison Kodjak, NPR health policy correspondent, is with us and has been listening in. Hi, Alison.
ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: So what do you make of what you heard there?
KODJAK: Well, the congressman mentioned that the bill - the Affordable Care Act right now has left 29 million people without insurance who can't afford it or have chosen not to buy it, but the Congressional Budget Office says the bill that he voted for would leave an additional 23 million people without insurance after 10 years on top of that - the people who already are uncovered. So, you know, whether or not he thinks that's mean or not, it's not solving the problem that he says it will solve.
INSKEEP: OK, and now we have this Senate legislation, and we don't know how that's going to be tweaked. We don't know what the Congressional Budget Office might say of - about that. But do you have any sense, Alison Kodjak, of what is in the Senate bill that's being privately debated and drafted?
KODJAK: There's not a lot of details out there. One thing that we are hearing is that it's tracking more closely to what the House Republicans passed, in part because there are these budget rules that say it can only increase or decrease the deficit a certain amount than we originally thought. The original report that we're...
INSKEEP: Oh, there was talk of a more moderate...
KODJAK: ...That they'd start over.
INSKEEP: ...Senate bill or a complete rewrite, but they're going to stick with mostly the House legislation...
KODJAK: At least that's what we're hearing...
INSKEEP: ...We think.
KODJAK: ...But as you say, nobody's seen the legislation yet.
INSKEEP: OK, Alison, thanks very much. Really appreciate it.
KODJAK: Thanks, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR health policy correspondent Alison Kodjak on this morning as Senate Republicans continue debating privately their health care legislation. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
