The bill would cut more than 20 taxes enacted under former president Barack Obama’s heath law, saving taxpayers almost $US600 billion over the next decade. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called it “Obamacare-lite”.
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Some Obamacare opponents would argue that the plan was proving to be unsustainable even with the individual mandate, but that’s largely facile talk meant to cheer those who’ve hated the law since its inception. Obamacare remains popular with many Americans. The bill allows insurers to charge older people who buy insurance on their own – such as retirees who haven’t hit the Medicare eligibility age of 65 – up to five times more than younger people for similar coverage.
Earlier, President Donald Trump tweeted, “Our wonderful new healthcare bill is now out for review and negotiation”.
Further complicating matters is that if House Republicans concede too much to members of the Freedom Caucus, they risk alienating moderate Republicans in the Senate where the GOP can only lose a maximum of three votes.
There are some significant differences.
About half those people gained coverage through an expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor. Those would be capped at upper-income levels, Republican aides said.
Not only did the GOP not have a plan, they made absolutely no attempt to help fix some of problems with Obamacare after its rollout. The GOP plan allows for more limited policies and policies that kick in only in cases of major illness or injury. “From subsidies in the individual market [under-65], to federal funding of Medicaid, to tax deductions in employer-sponsored health insurance, current federal support keeps the health insurance market [dysfunctional as it may be] intact”.
Yet as Andy Slavitt, the head of Medicare and Medicaid under Obama, writes, the likely Republican plan will result in still higher premiums and deductibles. People covered under the law “can expect to have great health care”. The tax has already been delayed once, until 2020. Instead, it would delay the tax until 2025.
Republicans say their plan creates competition that will drive down costs. In other words, the amendment would require Trump to release his tax returns if the bill is passed.
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America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents insurance providers, applauded the elimination of the tax penalty but warned that proposed Medicaid changes “could result in unnecessary disruptions in the coverage care beneficiaries depend on”. Those uninsured in 2017 will have to pay $695, or 2.5% of their income, whichever is higher. Without a mandate, they can cut them from a benefits package without being penalized by the government. The Republican proposal does retain Obamacare’s requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions.
