Mitt Romney says up to 20 million will lose health insurance due to Obama health care law
During the first presidential debate in Denver, Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama's health care law by saying, "Right now, the (Congressional Budget Office) says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year."
While PolitiFact does not put predictions to the Truth-O-Meter, we do fact-check whether politicians or pundits accurately portray the predictions made by others.
We did so in June, when Romney made a similar claim in a speech -- that "Obamacare ... means that for up to 20 million Americans, they will lose the insurance they currently have, the insurance that they like and they want to keep." We rated that claim False.
Our ruling
Romney said, "Right now, the (Congressional Budget Office) says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year."
That number is cherry-picked, and many of those 20 million will be leaving employer coverage voluntarily for better options. Romney also ignores that under the status quo, many more people today "lose" coverage than even the highest, cherry-picked CBO estimate. We rate his statement False.
