The nation is waiting to see what will become of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) now that Republicans won the White House and majorities in both houses of Congress late last year. After all, the law affects many millions of people and businesses. You and your clients! There's much talk of "repeal and replace," but the components of a replacement and the timeline are unclear.
A replacement plan will require consensus first among Republican members of Congress, who currently have a few disagreement points. Key areas of discussion include the future of the ACA's Medicaid expansion, individual tax credits and regulation of insurance companies' selling and coverage practices.
Earlier this week, a draft House repeal-and-replace bill leaked and was covered in the news. Is this what the final outcome will look like? Probably not, as a few of the more conservative members of the House GOP have expressed lack of support for a provision for age-based tax credits (as opposed to the ACA's income-based subsidies) and that for reduction of certain tax exemptions for businesses.
Here's a round-up of the latest news and discussion on the ongoing effort to repeal, replace or even simply amend the existing Affordable Care Act. These are great resources for discussion with clients, or responding to questions about the ACA's future.