Obamacare Swirling Round the Drain

1/11/17 USA Today reports on Senate action to repeal Obamacare and includes this odd claim:

Democrats said repealing the law will strip millions of Americans of insurance, leave people with pre-existing medical conditions unable to find coverage, and increase the nation's budget deficit by $353 billion over the next 10 years as the tax and fee provisions that pay for Obamacare are gutted.

Millions of those with insurance because of Obamacare can't really afford to use it because the deductibles are so high; in practice, their insurance only covers the relatively rare catastrophes.  This sort of coverage was not hideously expensive before Obamacare and yet few people bought it.  The pre-existing conditions concern seems legitimate.  But if repealing Obamacare will increase the deficit then my snarky observation that Obamacare was a tax increase with medical insurance as a side effect turns out to be true.