State Rep. Bennett: What the repeal of ACA means to you

As a disabled minor, Skylar qualifies for Medicaid, and a Medicaid waiver for home care would help her family as they struggle to pay mounting health care costs. So now why are he and the rest of the Republicans in Congress rushing forward with a replacement for the Affordable Care Act without ample opportunity for his constituents to become informed citizen consumers?

The AARP also spoke out against the new legislation, which includes what they’re calling an “age tax” because it allows insurance companies to charge older people higher premiums.

The Ways and Means portion of the legislation also enhances and expands Health Savings Accounts and provides a monthly tax credit to individuals and families who don’t receive insurance through work or a government program, according to a press release from Bishop’s office on Tuesday. The main goal of the ACA was to expand coverage and now the nation’s uninsured rate is lower than ever (around 8 percent), with an additional 20 million people covered overall.

“Our fiscally responsible plan will lower costs for patients and begin returning control from Washington back to the states, so that they can tailor their health-care systems to their unique communities”, the two wrote. Brian Rosman, Policy Director at Health Care for All in Boston observes: “The result was a dramatic increase in insurance coverage and financial security, as well as improvements in overall health, increases in preventive care, and dramatic reductions in racial and ethnic disparities in coverage”. During his campaign and more recently, as President, Trump has repeatedly made his dislike for the Affordable Care Act known and he has promised to repeal it, more than once. Some legislators say, ideally, they hope the number of people covered by this expansion will slowly decline as enrollees’ incomes improve.

Bend the cost curve of private insurance down and offer tax credits so that people who are not eligible for Medicaid will be able to access private insurance.

The Association is pleased to see that the bill retains the Essential Health Benefits standard for individual and small group plans. “You can’t have one without the other”.

The local impact of repeal for IL would be devastating, noted Lenhoff, as the state would lose over $49.9 billion in federal funding and pay more in uncompensated care. He said states like NY would have to decide whether to continue its coverage to 138 percent of the poverty line. Lawmakers across Capitol Hill say the House Republican plan is either too far left, too far right or spot on. Policy experts say restructuring Medicaid in this way would lead to funding cuts for states. She quoted Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards in response to that argument. In the most basic sense, the Affordable Care Act taxes the wealthy so that subsidies can be provided to people who can’t otherwise afford health insurance.

“Let’s not the make the same mistakes that the ACA brought and ‘hey, we are all learning this from the start”, he said.

“They wanted to understand what our concerns were”, Brandon said, adding that specifics of proposals to address those concerns were not discussed.