House committees set to advance ACA replacement before knowing cost or how many lose coverage [View all]
By James Hohmann March 7 at 10:33 AM
THE BIG IDEA: The devil is always in the details. After years of waiting on Republicans to outline how they will translate talking points into reality, two House committees last night posted the specific language of legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. (The Ways and Means draft is here. The Energy and Commerce draft is here.)
The proposals let people stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26 and forbid insurers from denying coverage or charging more to people with preexisting conditions. There would be no more individual mandate, but to prod people to pay for coverage insurers would be given permission to impose a surcharge of 30 percent on customers who have a gap between plans.
-- But here’s the rub: We don’t know how many people will lose coverage or how much this might blow up the deficit over time. What was released last night has not been scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. This is a big deal because both House committees with jurisdiction plan to take up the legislation tomorrow and advance the overhaul without this kind of formal analysis.
House GOP leadership created a “frequently asked questions” web site to accompany the draft legislation. One question is, “How are you paying for this plan? How much is it going to cost taxpayers?” This is the answer in full: “We are still discussing details, but we are committed to repealing Obamacare and replacing it with fiscally responsible policies that restore the free market and protect taxpayers.”
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/03/07/daily-202-house-committees-set-to-advance-aca-replacement-before-knowing-cost-or-how-many-lose-coverage/58be645ce9b69b1406c75d49/?utm_term=.c93e253a091b&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1
= new reply since forum marked as read