Republican ACA Replacement Effort Collapses; States Defend House v. Price Intervention Request

On July 17, 2017, Republican efforts to enact their Better Care Reconciliation Act collapsed as GOP Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas announced that they would not support the legislation. Senators Rand Paul (R KY) and Susan Collins (R ME) had already announced their opposition, while Senator John McCain (R AZ) remains hospitalized in Arizona, leaving the Republican leadership at least three votes short of the 50—with Vice President Pence’s tiebreaking vote—they need to pass the bill. Following the announcement by Senators Lee and Moran that they could not support the BCRA, Senate Majority Leader McConnell reportedly announced that he was prepared to call up the House AHCA and replace it with a “repeal and delay” amendment. The amendment would not completely repeal the ACA, a step that would reopen the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole, undermine fraud and abuse enforcement, and probably throw Medicare provider payments into chaos. Rather, the amendment would repeal the specific provisions of the ACA that were included in the 2015 budget reconciliation bill that passed both the House and Senate and was vetoed by President Obama. The 2015 repeal legislation would have ended the ACA’s individual and employer mandate penalties immediately. It would have also repealed the ACA’s Medicaid expansions, premium tax credits and cost-sharing reduction payments, and small business tax credits, but would have delayed the repeal for two years....
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage ACA repeal and replace cost-sharing reduction payments Source Type: blogs