GOP Senators Propose Delay On O’Care Repeal To Work Out Replacement

Governor Rick Snyder has cautioned against a blanket repeal of the Affordable Care Act. This is likely due to individuals purchasing health care on state and federal exchanges under threat of Obamacare’s individual mandate penalty, which now sits at a yearly fee of $625 per adult and $347.50 per child, or 2.5 percent of your household income (whichever is higher). A lot of Republicans eagerly jumped on the wagon to immediately throw it out, but Paul and a few others wanted to wait until the party had a replacement plan.

Those provisions, especially divorced from the cost-containment provisions of Obamacare, are likely to drive health insurance premiums higher, faster. Across the country, choices of plans and providers are dwindling.

Through letters, emails, calls and meetings across the state, thousands of Kentuckians have told me about the painful effects of Obamacare. Many who are getting the health care they need from ACA helped elect the Republicans now in power as well as Donald Trump, who takes office January 20. They campaigned on the promise of immediate repeal, even though the program has just finished its largest signup period ever. Kentuckians have had enough. They have promised to repeal it on Inauguration Day. This is either because they couldn’t afford comprehensive coverage without the health care law’s tax credits, or because they have pre-existing medical conditions that insurers could refuse to cover in the absence of the law’s regulations. Interestingly, after Trump won the election, “we saw an unprecedented number of people reaching out to our organization to get help signing up”, said Smith.

There are many good things included in Obamacare, supported by a majority of Americans, that Republicans could build upon in the development of a better plan. But that is untrue. But now that the ACA has millions of people who rely on it, it’s far easier for both the public and lawmakers to see who benefits from it. So should we citizens and healthcare providers and healthcare consumers.

“We need to remember something – this law is hurting people right now”, Mr. Ryan said, insisting the law’s costs will, indeed, result in a “death spiral” in which healthy people shirk the marketplace due to excessive premiums, driving costs even higher.

As much as Republicans like “job creators”, and as much as President-elect Donald Trump boasts about preserving American jobs, you’d think they’d recognize the ACA’s success in creating jobs and easing pressure on unemployment. “But if they want to dismantle real progress for working families, then Republicans are going to have to do it alone because we won’t stand there and let it happen”.