For some time now Republicans have spoken of the idea to both repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and the first step happened when Donald Trump put his executive order in weeks ago. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday reports.
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The health care law has provided coverage under Medicaid to 194,000 New Jersey residents, tax subsidies to help buy insurance to 205,242 people in the state, and extra help to buy prescription drugs to 211,881 seniors, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
States that opted into Medicaid expansion under the ACA would be able to continue enrolling people until January 1, 2020. Medicare, which provides healthcare coverage for Americans over 65 through federal and state funds, would later limit federal funding based on each state’s cost and enrollment numbers. Tax credits would begin at $2,000 for people in their 20s, and gradually increase to $4,000 for people over age 60.
The fate of ObamaCare’s taxes has been a source of debate among GOP lawmakers.
One tiny North Carolina town votes to disband.
House Republicans posted the bill online for viewing at ReadTheBill.gop. “Under Obamacare, about 22 million people got healthcare and I think more or less over a few years, more than half of those will eventually lose that”, he said. Some tenants would be upheld – like granting coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26 – but others will be dismantled. If the bill is going to amount to a deficit-financed tax cut, then why not just write a deficit-financed tax cut that doesn’t disrupt or eliminate millions of people’s health insurance?
Doggett said that by keeping the bill hidden, Republicans are making it hard for Democrats to draft amendments.
“I’m particularly concerned in OH, because people under expanded medicaid could lose treatment for drug abuse and mental health care”, Portman said.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called the bill “Obamacare Lite”, while four Republican senators penned a letter that rejects a draft version of the legislation for its changes to Medicare. They said any replacement plan offer a “stable transition period and the opportunity to gradually phase-in their populations to any new Medicaid financing structure”.
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Also, the Congressional Budget Office has not yet issued its assessment of the bill’s cost and impact on coverage levels.
