Ballot ‘Bloodbath’ if GOP Health Plan Fails

Disagreement has arisen across both party lines, and with industry participants.

Obamacare imposes a tax penalty on people who fail to have health coverage of some kind unless they qualify for an exemption.

The current House Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has come under fire from conservative groups, including the Club for Growth, and some conservative members of Congress.

Pitt County’s other congressional representative, Wilson Democrat G.K. Butterfield, adamantly opposes the Republican plan.

The AARP letter said Obamacare helped strengthen Medicare, and that a tax cut for higher income workers in the American Health Care Act “could hasten” the program’s insolvency. Next Democrats offered another motion, also defeated, which would have delayed consideration of the bill until the Congressional Budget Office issues a report on how much it would cost.

Republicans said they had asked the CBO to “score” the bill – provide a preliminary estimate on its cost – and expect to have that analysis by the time it hits the house floor. (The second phase would deal with regulations from the executive branch). “If leadership insists on replacing ObamaCare with ObamaCare Lite, no repeal will pass”.

Seven years ago, Barack Obama’s Democrats passed a health insurance law that promised to cover nearly everyone and make medical care more affordable.

The proposal would protect two of the most popular provisions of Obamacare.

The legislation would rollback the expansion of Medicaid funds that provide low-income families with insurance, and Medicaid funding would be provided to states on a per capita basis. There is no cap at the moment. But if Republicans say they don’t share the view that health care is a right and not a privilege, “then we don’t have much to talk about”.

“In contrast, a 50-year-old with a gap in coverage of the same length would be charged $96 more than a younger person per month, or $1,154 more over 12 months, for a total of $2,161”.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition: Under the House plan, insurers would not be able to deny coverage based on preexisting conditions, and they must charge the same premium as they charge those patients without preexisting conditions.

“It would be a very harmful step backward if a portion of those New Jersey residents lose coverage and return to the days when they used the hospital emergency room for all of their health care”, Ryan wrote in an NJHA blog.

It is yet to be seen what exactly the new plan will look like by the time it reaches the President’s desk, but there is bound to be elements that look familiar from 2010. “With the second group, it might be easier for them to get these new tax credits, but these new tax credits, in all likelihood, won’t go as far as the more complicated ones under the Affordable Care Act”.