Just as the previous president preferred “The Affordable Care Act”, Trump spokesmen prefer the actual name given in the bill, The American Health Care Act. “We’re going to do a much better job”. Most Americans are anxious about the repercussions of repealing the Affordable Care Act, as many of them rely on the act for their health care needs, and most aren’t able to pay health coverage without it. “People will like it a lot”.
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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, argued that because of the power the minority party holds in the Senate, the American Health Care Act, as the GOP bill is known, is the most aggressive plan Republicans can spearhead right now. By reducing the benefits package, Republicans hope to reduce premiums and deductibles, which in conjunction with refundable tax credits for the poor and middle class would allow more people to purchase affordable health insurance. Like Obamacare, however, the Republican bill allows children to stay on a parent’s insurance until they reach age 26 and prevents insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions. The Medicaid program insures low-income people and those with disabilities.
The American Hospital Association (AHA), a leading trade group representing hospitals, said current provisions for “our most vulnerable” would be thrown into doubt.
Republicans who don’t like it but who want to distance it from Trump are calling it Ryancare.
Trump may wind up learning that lesson the hard way.
As for how this new health care act was put together, it can be said that we no longer have government of, by and for the people. In contrast, under the House plan, all three consumers would receive tax credits of $3,000. Still, Spicer said Trump and other GOP leaders would prefer to have the groups on their side. “He’s probably going to lose seats of Congress for that if people take it out on Republicans in the midterms”.
Fundamentally, Democrats and Republicans disagree over the role of government in health care, reflecting the debate over the role of government that is part of the history of the country, she said.
The problem, said task force speakers, is that unlike 32 other states, Georgia never expanded Medicaid as Obamacare envisioned.
“I know when local hospitals close, that is a real, actual, tangible difference in the quality of health care”, Cartwright said. As a result, because Georgia spends less on Medicaid compared to the expansion states, it would get less under the GOP plan than if it had expanded Medicaid.
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The committee is expected to take up the measure next Wednesday, following the two markups this week by the House Ways and Means Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee, which advanced the bill.
