6 Nobel Prize–winning economists announce opposition to Senate health bill

Forty economists, including six Nobel laureates, sent a letter Monday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) outlining their opposition to the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Senate bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.

“At a time when economic change is making life more difficult for all but the relatively well-to-do, denying people to access health insurance is a giant step in the wrong direction,” the letter reads. “The goal should be to hold down health costs and increase access to affordable, quality health coverage for all. Unfortunately, the Better Care Reconciliation Act threatens reduced coverage and higher costs for those who continue to have it.”

Nobel Prize-winning economists Peter Diamond, Oliver Hart, Daniel Kahneman, Eric Maskin, Daniel McFadden, and Al Roth signed on to the letter, alongside 34 other economists.

One of the notable dynamics of the Senate debate is there are plenty of experts and advocacy groups coming out against the bill, but quite few speaking in its favor (although a handful do exist). This is quite different from the Affordable Care Act debate, where Democrats were keen to line up outsider experts like those signed on to this letter to speak favorably of their policy proposals.

You can read the full letter here or below: