Congressional Republicans, eager to pull the plug on the Affordable Care Act, have unveiled their legislative proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare.
While not a formal bill, the so-called Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act offers a package of health policy initiatives that either discard, tweak or overhaul major provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah were joined by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan in presenting the so-called “CARE Act.”
The CARE Act is designed to be the GOP’s go-to health care plan if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the upcoming King vs. Burwell case that federal tax credits – which help pay for marketplace health coverage – cannot go to residents in 37 states that use the HealthCare.gov website.
That outcome would cause roughly 8.2 million people to lose their health insurance, according to estimates by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
HHS reported this week that tax credits have gone to about 87% of nearly 7.5 million people in these 37 states who have either selected a 2015 health plan or re-enrolled in coverage through HealthCare.gov.
The Obama administration has not said what they would do if the high court strikes down the tax credit offerings.
The CARE Act would eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which requires most Americans to have health insurance or face a cash penalty.
The proposal would also provide a refundable tax credit to help people pay for coverage. But it would be less generous than the ACA tax credits and would target lower-earning consumers than the ACA subsidies.
An ACA provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents health plan would remain in the CARE Act. But the GOP proposal allows states to opt out of the provision.
The CARE Act would do away with an ACA requirement that insurers cover ten essential benefits. But it would retain an ACA provision that bans insurance companies from imposing lifetime limits on a consumer’s medical benefits.
The GOP proposal also keeps an ACA provision that bars insurers from charging customers more based on their medical history. But under the CARE Act, the provision only applies if consumers are continuously enrolled. Any lapse in coverage under the GOP plan would allow insurers to factor your medical history into your premium costs.
The CARE Act is similar to another Obamacare replacement proposal from GOP senators that went nowhere in 2014, said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR.
“While this proposal was unveiled with great fanfare, it’s little more than a lethargic rehash of last year’s unworkable ideas,” Wyden said in a statement about the CARE Act… “It effectively raises taxes on the middle class, removes bedrock protections for consumers and chips away at key coverage benefits that Americans rely on. In short: nothing in this white paper achieves what millions of Americans have today thanks to the Affordable Care Act – quality, affordable, health care.”
Senator Burr, however, disagreed. In a statement, he said that Americans don’t like Obamacare “and don’t want to keep it.”
“Our nation’s health care system was broken before Obamacare, and the President’s health care debacle has only made things worse,” Burr’s statement read. “The Patient CARE Act repeals Obamacare and addresses the fundamental cost drivers that Obamacare failed to address.”
To read the Patient CARE Act, click HERE.