House Republicans on Monday evening released the text of their long-awaited ObamaCare replacement bill, proposing to eliminate the various taxes and penalties tied to the original legislation while still preserving certain patient protections.  
 
Aiming to deliver on their signature campaign promise after several election cycles trying to reclaim control of Washington, majority Republicans unveiled what they call the American Health Care Act. The sweeping legislation would repeal ObamaCare’s taxes along with the so-called individual and employer mandates – which imposed fines for not buying and offering insurance, respectively. 

It also would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies, replacing them with tax credits for consumers.

The bill would continue Obama's expansion of Medicaid to additional low-earning Americans until 2020. After that, states adding Medicaid recipients would no longer receive the additional federal funds the statute has provided.

More significantly, Republicans would overhaul the federal-state Medicaid program, changing its open-ended federal financing to a limit based on enrollment and costs in each state.

“We begin by repealing the awful taxes, the mandate penalties and the subsidies in ObamaCare,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” in an exclusive interview. 

Asked about some conservatives’ concerns that GOP leaders are merely pushing ‘ObamaCare Lite,’ Brady countered, “It is ObamaCare gone.” 
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told Fox News they also “are not pulling the rug out from under people.” Rather, he said Republicans want to restore power to the states and control costs in Medicaid and elsewhere. 

“It’ll amount to the biggest entitlement reform, probably in at least the last 20 years,” he said. 

The release of the bill touches off what is likely to be a contentious debate, not just with Democrats but within the Republican Party.

The White House signaled its approval of the plan, with spokesman Sean Spicer saying, "Today marks an important step toward restoring healthcare choices and affordability back to the American people."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the bill "hands billionaires a massive new tax break while shifting huge costs and burdens onto working families across America."

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the proposal "would cut and cap Medicaid, defund Planned Parenthood, and force Americans, particularly older Americans, to pay more out of pocket for their medical care all so insurance companies can pad their bottom line."

The first test for GOP leaders, who have been under heavy pressure ever since President Trump took office to release a bill, will be whether the text satisfies the influential conservative wing  – which has the numbers to torpedo the legislation. But it is a balancing act, as moderate Republican lawmakers, as well as governors of both parties, also have warned against going too far in rolling back consumer protections and benefits. 

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the bill would "drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health insurance." He added, "This unified Republican government will deliver relief and peace of mind to the millions of Americans suffering under Obamacare."

However, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the bill "looks like ObamaCare Lite to me ... It's going to have to be better."

Rank-and-file Republicans were watching to see if the legislation brings down the cost of healthcare. 

"If it doesn't, we haven't changed anything," one House Republican told Fox News. 

While subsidies would be repealed in the new bill, they would be replaced by monthly tax credits. The credits, worth between $2,000 and $14,000 a year, could be used by low-and-middle-income families who don’t get work- or government-sponsored insurance to buy state-certified plans. 

The credits would be based on age and family size, unlike the income-based version under ObamaCare. Conservatives have objected that that feature creates a new entitlement program the government cannot afford.

"I can’t believe many conservative groups are going to like this," one GOP lawmaker told Fox.

Republicans said they'd not yet received official cost estimates on the overall bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That office's projections on the bill's price tag and the number of people the measure would cover could be key in winning over recalcitrant Republicans, or making them even harder to win over.

It's unclear how many people might lose coverage under the new plan. 
The legislation, meanwhile, would preserve protections for those with pre-existing conditions by prohibiting insurers from denying coverage or charging them more. It also would continue to allow young adults to stay on their parents’ plans up to age 26. 

Further, the plan would call for a “transition” away from the current Medicaid expansion, which was used under the original law to cover millions more people. Republicans also say they’d give states $100 billion to design their own programs, while upping the amount of money families can contribute to so-called Health Savings Accounts.

A series of tax increases on higher-earning people, the insurance industry and others used to finance the Obama overhaul's coverage expansion would be repealed as of 2018.

In a last-minute change to satisfy conservative lawmakers, business and unions, Republicans dropped a plan pushed by Ryan to impose a first-ever tax on the most generous employer-provided health plans.

Fox News is told the plan is to go to both the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees on Wednesday for "mark-up" sessions where they will craft a final version of the bill. The legislation would tentatively go before the House Budget Committee next week. 
The hope is that the bill would hit the House floor the week after that -- and the Senate before the Easter recess. 

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wouldn't rule out changes in the measure by his chamber, where significant numbers of moderate Republicans have expressed concerns that the measure could leave too many voters without coverage.

"The House has the right to come up with what it wants to and present it to the Senate by passing it. And we have a right to look it over and see if we like it or don't," Hatch told reporters.

Underscoring those worries, four GOP senators released a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shortly before the bill was unveiled.

They complained that an earlier, similar draft of the measure "does not provide stability and certainty for individuals and families in Medicaid expansion programs or the necessary flexibility for states." Signing the letter were Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/06/house-republicans-release-long-awaited-obamacare-replacement-bill.html

Thank god! Byebye Obamacare!

Yup, lets hear ya cheer when you go broke paying to have your ingrown toenail taken care of.

so long as they can take steam and credit from Obama,,,any differences will be celebrated as 'republican' success

scary for the millions of middle aged and low income and sick people who could finally afford decent healthcare

I don't see them taking anything from Obama.. they killed his bill.

Fact is healthcare is a business and if they do not make money ( healthcare companies) they are not going to provide that service.

As is evident with them pulling out of entire areas.That was their answer to Obama.

And his answer to that.... zip.. nothing

IMO not really.

Based on the actual bill it seems the penalties are simply shifted from the IRS to the insurance companies to enforce.
To "incentivize" (rather than mandate) continuous coverage it allows insurance companies to charge extra if you don't hold a plan the entire year.

i.e. you buy an insurance policy for 2019 in March, they charge you 30% more for missing January and February.
And maybe if you don't buy a policy in 2019, they might be legally allowed (possibly mandated by the government) to charge you 30% more each month for 2020.

"a health insurance issuer offering health in-
surance coverage in the individual or small group
market shall, in the case of an individual who is an
applicable policyholder of such coverage with respect
to an enforcement period applicable to enrollments
for a plan year beginning with plan year 2019 (or,
in the case of enrollments during a special enroll-
ment period, beginning with plan year 2018), in-
crease the monthly premium rate otherwise applica-
ble to such individual for such coverage during each
month of such period...equal to 30 percent of the monthly
premium rate..."

http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/AmericanHealthCareAct.pdf


Great.
From "we have to pass it to find out what's in it," to, "we have to pass it to find out what it does."


Ah crap.
From "we have to pass it to find out what's in it, " to, "we have to pass it to find out what it does," back to, "we have to pass it to find out what's in it."


Insurance does not = healthcare.
"Millions of middle aged and low income and sick people who could finally afford" insurance couldn't afford healthcare because of the premiums and high deductibles and increases in actual care (like tests and pharmaceuticals).


legacy.

IMO "Trump's" (congress/house/senate) plan, at best, helps insurance companies get their money back from losses from Obamacare.

It doesn't improve healthcare access for people so much as simply shift accounting numbers.

It continues, possibly increases, federal control while shifting responsibility onto states and insurance companies.

repubs knew that from the beginning, when zero repubs voted in favor of it...but the stupid libs pushed it though anyway... Then the insurance companies had to start dropping it because they were gonna go out of business because of ACA was/is such a colossal failure.... And I just can't get why the citizen libs still try to defend something that is so obviously a failure... But who cares, the repubs will fix the sillyness that is obarrycare

they didnt 'kill' anything, they took what was already there and made alterations to take credit for the whole thing themselves...



healthcare is a business, so was telephone service and so is insurance service, but if they don't really have to compete and provide service for reasonable prices,, they won't


they will still make money, that's the whole scam,, the millions of people paying into it every month vs the thousands who actually use it for any type of costly healthcare,, they MAKE MONEY


in fact, they actually charge a little less to employers because they will have so many more paying in,, that's what brings business in,, better deals for bulk orders,, THEY MAKE MONEY

as is evident by the millions more customers they received, and the millions more who were able to have some healthcare


..the 'we wont make money' bs, is right up there with 'trickle down' theory

it really means 'we wont make the same ridiculous AMOUNTS of money'

but rich boy in charge was not gonna let that fly, and they can go back to the greed and the milions who struggle can go on being shafted and undervalued,,,


the ones who dropped out could not provide a DECENT(meeting ACA standard) at a decent price,,,,they couldn't compete in the new standards,, too bad for them,,thats business

rather them have to start over than even ONE person have to die or lose their livelihood because they didn't have insurance

but corporations are people,, people who will continue to be more important in our culture than flesh and blood humans

Not to forget the ever popular collective system.

not to forget trickle down has not seen the middle or lower class prosper , even though the upper class has continued to become exponentially richer

and all that 'newfound' wealth, doesn't trickle down, but just adds to their wealth

Well, it can't very well trickle down when most of the US jobs left our shores.
Healthcare is a money maker for our friends in Congress. They want to keep the system going no matter how bad it is.

more evidence that making the wealthy wealthier doesn't create JACK for those beneath them


healthcare is a money maker for anyone in the healthcare industry,,, we need healthcare no matter who is making the money


but AFFORDABLE healthcare is less likely to happen with private bean counters setting the standards,,,

Honestly they just need to repeal ACA. It was designed to fail, yet pave the way for a universal system. It forced people to buy coverage and also gave insurance companies monopolizing power in their respective states.

If you want to fix healthcare in our country, you have to pretty much get rid of insurance companies, look into some sort of tort reform, and all but abolish the FDA.

Power to the Proletariat! The rich shall pay for everything!

I'm not opposed to anyone in healthcare making money it's the ones in Washington making money too. Tort reform and getting rid of the lobbyist.

MSH.. please.. major health care companies pulled out of entire regions

When you are making money somewhere... you don't pull out.. business 101

so what?

'major' businesses have gone out of business in entire regions before because..

THEY COULD NOT COMPETE,

how often do you see SEARS stores, or MONTGOMERY WARDS?

time moves on and more competitive companies take their place

Yes.. exactly.. and that is what will happen when Obamacare is gone.. competition.

you see, in many regions, when the healthcare companies pulled out it left the people with little choice but to accept the remaining healthcare company..no competition means.. benefits went down.. deductibles went up.. that is a fact.

cause the Pres said you had to take that company or you would be fined.

Meaning Obamacare actually DROVE healthcare companies out. which left the bottom feeders of the industry to insure the people in those regions.

the "Rent a centers" of healthcare.

who lost out, MSH.. Who.

wrong,,

The ACA put standards in place, so what was 'left' was what was competitive in its COVERAGE and PRICE

who lost out were the companies who wanted to gauge customers pockets for crappy coverage


who didn't lose out are the twenty million who now have some type of DECENT coverage,,,

well, if you like your obarrycare, then you'll be able to keep your obarrycare... You'll just have to read it yourself to see what's in it...

I would like so I will

In the long run, programs like obama care are likely to increase the cost of medicine.