As many as 24 million Americans risk losing health coverage over the next decade under the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Monday.

The report predicts a significant loss of healthcare coverage over the next decade if Congress enacts the Republican healthcare proposal, which has faced criticism from across the political spectrum and from nearly every sector of the healthcare industry.

An estimated 52 million people would be uninsured in 2026, compared with the 28 million who would lack insurance that year under the current law, according to the report. President Donald Trump, who supports the Republican plan, has promised that his plan would provide “insurance for everybody”.

Repealing and replacing Obamacare is one of the main campaign promises made by President Donald Trump, who supports the new plan and has launched a media offensive to garner support for it among the public.

The Republican proposal to overhaul health care in the United States could cause as many as 24 million people to lose their coverage over the next nine years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday.

Nevertheless, the proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act achieves one of the key objectives of Republican lawmakers, reducing the federal deficit by $337 billion over 10 years, according to the report. 

The US deficit in 2016 amounted to $587 billion.

The greatest savings will come from reductions in Medicaid expenditures, along with the elimination of subsidies under Obamacare, reported EFE.

"The reductions in insurance coverage between 2018 and 2026 would stem in large part from changes in Medicaid enrollment - because some states would discontinue their expansion of eligibility, some states that would have expanded eligibility in the future would choose not to do so, and per-enrollee spending in the program would be capped," the report said.

The report's findings constitute a blow to the Republican leadership, which has long sought to eliminate the current health care reform pushed by ex-President Barack Obama and replace it with this new plan, but GOP lawmakers have not arrived at a consensus on the plan, especially ultraconservatives, who say it does not go far enough, and the more moderate sector of the party, as reported in EFE.

The Trump administration immediately denounced the budget office’s conclusions. Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services, said the report offered an incomplete picture because it did not take into account regulatory steps he intends to take, as well as other legislation that Republicans plan as part of their multistep strategy to repeal and replace the health law, as reported in The New York Times.

“We disagree strenuously with the report that was put out,” he said at the White House.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said after the report's release that "Our plan is not about forcing people to buy expensive, one-size-fits-all coverage. It is about giving people more choices and better access to a plan they want and can afford. When people have more choices, costs go down."

However, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that "The CBO's estimate makes clear that Trumpcare will cause serious harm to millions of American families. Tens of millions will lose their coverage, and millions more, particularly seniors, will have to pay more for healthcare."

Minority leader Nancy Pelosi joined him: “In terms of insurance coverage it’s immoral, in terms of giving money to the rich at the expense of working families it is indecent and wrong,” Pelosi said, adding: “I hope that they would pull the bill. It’s really the only decent thing to do.”

Changes in the Republican bill could cause monthly costs for older, poorer Americans to rise dramatically. For example, a 64-year-old earning $26,500 per year would have annual out-of-pocket costs increase by $14,600, from $1,700 per year under current law, reported The Guardian.

By contrast, young people could see annual costs drop. A 21-year-old earning the same amount of money would pay just $1,450 out-of-pocket, a $250 decrease from current law.