NATION
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Conservative backlash threatens to sink new health bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — A
powerful conservative backlash
threatened to sink the new Repub-
lican health care bill Tuesday less
than 24 hours after its launch,
even as President Donald Trump
and congressional leaders began
trying to sell the legislation as
the long-promised GOP cure for
“Obamacare.”
“We’re going to do something
that’s great and I’m proud to support
the replacement plan released by
the House of Representatives,”
Trump declared at the White House
as he met with the House GOP vote-
counting team Tuesday. “We’re
going to take action. There’s going
to be no slowing down. There’s
going to be no waiting and no more
excuses by anybody.”
Meanwhile, Vice President
Mike Pence told GOP lawmakers
at the Capitol this was their chance
to scuttle Obama’s law, and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
forecast congressional passage by
early April.
But major obstacles loomed
as key Republican lawmakers
announced their opposition, and
one conservative group after
another torched the plan. The Club
for Growth, Heritage Action for
America, Americans for Prosperity
and Tea Party Patriots variously
derided the new bill as Obamacare
Lite, Obamacare 2.0 and even
RyanCare, in a dig at House Speaker
Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
The new GOP plan would repeal
the current law’s unpopular fines
on people who don’t carry health
insurance. It also would replace
income-based subsidies, which
the law provides to help millions
of Americans pay premiums, with
age-based tax credits that may
be skimpier for people with low
incomes. Those payments would
phase out for higher-earning people.
The legislation also would limit
future federal funding for Medicaid,
which covers low-income people,
about 1 in 5 Americans. And it
would loosen rules that Obama’s
law imposed for health plans
directly purchased by individuals.
Republican supporters and
opponents are all intent on reducing
the role of government in health
care, but some House conservatives
say the new bill doesn’t go nearly
far enough.
For example, they are focusing
on the system of refundable
tax credits they denounce as a
What the new health care plan means for you:
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White
House on Tuesday during a meeting with the Republican House
whip team about the proposed health bill.
costly new entitlement. They’re
demanding a vote on a straightfor-
ward repeal-only bill.
The concerted conservative
opposition was a remarkable rebuke
to legislation GOP leaders hope will
fulfill seven years of promises to
repeal and replace Barack Obama’s
Affordable Care Act, pledges that
played out in countless Republican
campaigns for House and Senate as
well as last year’s race for president.
Instead, the groups that are uniting
to oppose the new House legislation
include many that sprang up to
oppose passage of “Obamacare” in
the first place.
“As the bill stands today, it is
Obamacare 2.0,” the billionaire
Koch Brothers-backed Americans
for Prosperity and Freedom Part-
ners Chamber of Commerce said in
a statement. “Millions of Americans
would never see the improvements
in care they were promised, just as
Obamacare failed to deliver on its
promises.”
The new GOP plan would repeal
the current law’s unpopular fines
on people who don’t carry health
insurance. It also would replace
income-based subsidies, which
the law provides to help millions
of Americans pay premiums, with
age-based tax credits that may
be skimpier for people with low
incomes. Those payments would
phase out for higher-earning people.
The Republican legislation
would limit future federal funding
for Medicaid, which covers
low-income people, about 1 in 5
Americans. And it would loosen
rules that Obama’s law imposed for
health plans directly purchased by
individuals.
Republicans are pushing forward
even without official estimates from
the Congressional Budget Office on
the cost of the bill and how many
people would be covered, although
GOP lawmakers acknowledge they
can’t hope to match the 20 million
covered under Obamacare.
Democrats say the bill would
leave many people uninsured,
shifting costs to states and hospital
systems that act as providers of
last resort. The bill also adds up
to big tax cuts for the rich, cutting
more than 20 taxes enacted under
Obama’s heath law with the bulk of
the savings going to the wealthiest
Americans.
“This is a tax cut for the wealthy
with some health insurance provi-
sions tacked alongside of it,” said
Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y.
Many conservatives are hardly
happier.
The new legislation is “not the
Obamacare replacement plan, not
the Obamacare repeal plan we’ve
been hoping for. This is instead
a step in the wrong direction,”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said at an
afternoon news conference with
members of the House Freedom
Caucus.
Notes of caution also came from
GOP governors, with Ohio Gov.
John Kasich arguing that phasing
out expanded Medicaid coverage
without a viable alternative is
“counterproductive.”
Health insurance shoppers may wind up with more options to choose
from but less help buying a policy under a new Republican proposal to
replace the Affordable Care Act.
A plan unveiled Monday in the House of Representatives shifts more
responsibility for finding affordable coverage to the individual, and
away from the government.
But neither the government’s current plan nor the plan offered by
Republicans seems capable of addressing the larger problem, the rising
cost of health care that is translating into higher insurance rates.
But the draft offers the first look at how Republicans want to change
the government’s role in delivering health care. Here’s a look:
WILL I PAY MORE FOR INSURANCE?
You might, because you could receive less help from the government.
The Affordable Care Act provides tax credits based on how much
money you make to help take the sting out of paying for insurance.
The new proposal provides tax credits that are based mainly on your
age. These may offer less support for people with low incomes than the
current system.
On the other hand, because the new proposal allows for a broader
range of insurance plans, it could mean that people may have a better
chance of finding a plan they can afford.
WHO WILL THIS HELP OR HURT THE MOST?
Younger, healthier people may have cheaper coverage options, but
costs could climb for older patients with chronic conditions and people
with low incomes.
The ACA provided subsidies that helped many people with chronic
conditions pay out-of-pocket expenses like deductibles, the amount a
person has to pay toward care before most insurance coverage starts.
Those subsidies could be eliminated under the Republican plan. There’s
an option for states to provide such subsidies, but it’s not yet clear how
those would work.
And lower-income people may struggle to pay their premiums, the
amount due each month for care, because they would get less help from
the government.
For example, under the Republican plan, a 41-year-old customer
of the insurer Molina Healthcare who earns $20,000 would receive
a $3,000 tax credit toward a $4,300 annual premium for one of the
company’s plans. That would leave the customer with a bill of $1,300
if there were no cheaper plan available. Under the current system, the
government would cover nearly the entire cost of that plan.
WILL THERE BE MORE PLANS TO CHOOSE FROM?
The Republican proposal loosens restrictions on the coverage
insurers can offer. That could mean a wider variety of plans, including
options with lower prices.
But customers would need to read closely: Plans may come with high
out-of-pocket costs like deductibles or narrow networks that exclude
the family doctor. The plan may also have less robust coverage of things
like mental health care. Those particulars remain far from settled and
will probably vary depending on state requirements.
WHAT’S THE PENALTY IF I DON’T SIGN UP?
The Republican plan ends the fines that people have to pay under the
ACA if they don’t buy coverage, the so-called individual mandate. But
there’s a catch. If people let their insurance lapse for 63 days in the year
before they sign up for coverage, insurers could charge these customers
30 percent more for coverage.
WILL MORE INSURERS PARTICIPATE?
That depends on whether lawmakers can fix the insurance exchanges
that are leading to large losses for some insurers.
The Republican plan does give insurers something high on their wish
list: the chance to offer a wider variety of plans, which might attract
younger and healthier customers.
But insurers also are worried that removing the mandate means
people will only buy coverage when they are sick, and that makes it
very hard for insurers to make money.
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