Have Employer Coverage? GOP Proposals Will Affect You Too (Part 2)

As Senate Republican leaders continue to craft their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), most attention has been focused on the number of individuals who would lose coverage if the legislation is enacted. To be sure, the ACA coverage expansions—through Medicaid and subsidized Marketplace plans—have been a lifeline for millions of people, particularly those who are low income, and have reduced the number of individuals without coverage to record lows. But the legislation that passed the House and the bill now under consideration in the Senate could also affect the more than 150 million people with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) who gained federally guaranteed protections against catastrophic costs. Earlier this year, I wrote about ACA reforms that apply to employer-based plans. At the time, we didn’t know yet what GOP repeal plans would retain of the ACA and what would be lost. Now, with the bills under discussion, we know more about what’s at risk for those with job-based plans. What protections can people with ESI hope to retain? Both the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) leave untouched the requirement that job-based plans cover recommended preventive services without cost-sharing, the prohibition on excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions, and the right to appeal your plan’s denial of care to an independent expert reviewer. The bills also retain the requir...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage ACA repeal and replace employer-sponsored coverage Employer-Sponsored Insurance Essential Health Benefits Source Type: blogs