The anticipated Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal and replacement process is starting to take shape. Earlier this week, on March 6, 2017, Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced their proposal. Insurance brokers, if your clients are wondering what's next for the Affordable Care Act, or have questions about how the proposal might affect them, here’s an update.
The GOP’s proposal would repeal the individual mandate for health insurance coverage and the related tax penalty for failure to do so. In addition, the bill in its current form would repeal the employer mandate and retroactively provide relief to certain businesses hit with a penalty for not offering coverage to employees.
The subsidies currently offered by the ACA would give way to tax credits for individuals with incomes below $75,000. These credits would be advanceable and refundable.
One of the ACA’s most popular provisions is the requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions. The current proposal would retain that, but continuous coverage would be required—as opposed to shopping for insurance only when one becomes sick.
Want more details on the ACA replacement proposal? Check out these sources:
- Kaiser Health News: Five Ways The GOP Health Bill Would Reverse Course From The ACA
- NPR: GOP Bill Would Repeal Obamacare Taxes And Penalties, Keep Some Subsidies
- Bloomberg: Republican health bill leaves employer tax exclusion untouched
- Insurance Journal: Here Is a Section-by-Section Summary of Republicans’ Health Care Act
- Reuters: Trump endorses House Republican healthcare plan, obstacles remain
This is only the beginning. The proposal will move through pertinent House committees, and then require consensus first in the full House and then in the Senate. It’ll likely be changed quite a bit during this process.
Republican members of the House have disagreed on a few key replacement provisions, including the future of the ACA's Medicaid expansion, individual tax credits and regulation of insurance companies' selling and coverage practices. In addition, some groups have expressed that the proposal does not go far enough, as they prefer to fully repeal the ACA.
Stay tuned!
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