House
Republicans unveil a replacer bill as the Senate votes on a de-funding measure
Jan 04, 2017 | By Allison Bell
The House Republican Study Commission today posted a
draft of an Affordable Care Act replacement
bill: the American Health Care Reform Act of 2017.
The Affordable Care Act has two parts: the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and the health care parts of the
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
The Republican Study Commission draft bill calls for the
"repeal of Obamacare," including all of PPACA and all of the
health-care related provisions in HCERA.
Paul Ryan cites the 21st Century Cures Act as an example
of lawmakers' ability to work together.
The AHCRA bill would create an inflation-adjusted,
above-the-line "standard deduction for health insurance," with
the starting value set at $7,500 for individuals and $20,500 for
families. The SDHI tax breakwould apply to all income and payroll
taxes.
The bill also would:
- Let
people use the money in a health savings account to pay for
high-deductible major medical insurance.
- Let
health insurers sell coverage across state lines.
- Create
new provisions protecting doctors against medical malpractice suits,
such as a mandatory independent medical review panel before the
discovery process begins; and
- Provide
$25 billion in funding over 10 years for state high-risk pools for
people with serious health problems.
During the period from 2011 through 2013, a temporary ACA
risk pool program went through about $5 billion in three years, and ran out of
funding a year earlier than expected.
"Premiums in these state high-risk pools will be
capped at 200 percent of the average premium in the state," according to a
bill summary.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
of 1996 gives people with health problems guaranteed access to health coverage
if they maintain continuous coverage, but HIPAA does not put any limits on the
rates health insurers can charge sicker people for coverage.
The AHCRA bill would let consumers use more types of
coverage to maintain continuous coverage. In the past, for example, workers had
to exhaust high-cost COBRA group health coverage continuation benefits to
qualify for access to protection from the HIPAA access guarantee, according to
a bill summary.
The AHCRA bill would let sick group health plan enrollees
show they had maintained continuous coverage and buy health coverage using the
HIPAA access guarantee without exhausting COBRA benefits, according to the bill
summary.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, members voted 51 to 48 to begin
debate on Senate Concurrent Resolution 3. The measure orders congressional
committees to begin work on an effort to de-fund the ACA. Under Senate budget
resolution rules, the committees could meet budget targets by changing or
killing federal laws and programs, such as the ACA.
One Republican no vote
Most pieces of
legislation need a two-thirds majority to get to the Senate floor.
A budget
resolution, and another type of budget measure, a budget reconciliation
resolution, can get through the Senate with a simple majority vote.
Supporters of
Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 had barely enough votes today to get the
resolution to the Senate floor.
All Democrats
and independents in the Senate who voted opposed letting the resolution come up
for debate.
One Republican,
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against the measure.
Paul said on
the floor that he opposes the measure because he believes it will lead to
Republicans voting for a budget that will add $9.7 trillion in new debt to the
federal budget deficit over 10 years.
"Is that
what we really campaigned on?" Rand asked. "That our first order of
business will be [passing] a budget that never balances?"
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