US House Republicans unveiled long-awaited legislation Monday that would repeal and replace the health care reforms known as Obamacare, largely under the framework that President Donald Trump laid out in his recent congressional address. The American Health Care Act would dismantle several of the core aspects of the reforms, including ending related subsidies and taxes.
Category: US House of Representatives
Republicans unveil Affordable Care Act replacement bill
Republicans unveiled their long-awaited legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, proposing to phase out key parts of the law over several years as they try to break through a stalemate between moderates and conservatives in their party. Called the American Health Care Act, House Republicans’ proposal includes a refundable, age-based tax credit to help people buy insurance.
GOP Senators Cry Foul Over Medicaid Expansion Repeal
The House Republican plan to phase out the Obamacare Medicaid expansion by 2020 may be a nonstarter for some Senate Republicans-and could potentially threaten the larger repeal-and-replace process. Shortly before House lawmakers revealed a revamped version of their Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill Monday evening, four Republican senators sent a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying they would not support an earlier draft from Feb. 10 that repeals Medicaid expansion because it “does not meet the test of stability for individuals currently enrolled in the program.”
House Republicans unveil Obamacare replacement plan
… a system of tax credits to provide access to care and freezes Medicaid expansion beginning in 2020. “The American Health Care Act is a plan to drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health …
Mulvaney Lies About Trump’s Promise Not to Cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman , Founding Co-Director of Social Security Works , in reaction to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney claiming that Trump’s campaign promise was to “save” Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and that Republican plans to cut the programs would be consistent with that promise: “Mick Mulvaney and Republicans in Congress are attempting to rewrite history. Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly and unequivocally promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, even specifically ruling out one of the GOP’s favorite cuts, raising the retirement age.
News roundup: Cassidy reintroduces Medicaid Accountability and Care…
Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy has reintroduced the Medicaid Accountability and Care Act of 2017, legislation he says is designed to improve Medicaid financing through controlled spending, value-based incentives and fraud reduction. In a statement, Cassidy, a medical doctor, says modernizing how Medicaid is financed “can incentivize more efficient, effective and patient centered care.”
GOP Obamacare – replacement’ is a 25-year-old straw man
… make to the nation’s governors on Monday: “I have to tell you, it’s an incredibly complex subject. Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” Of course, almost everyone knew that. After all, U.S. health care spending has reached $3.2 …
Rep. Michael Burgess Hosts Tense Town Hall on Health Care
… of the ACA will remain the same, including a rule that stops companies from setting yearly and lifetime limits on health insurance. The town hall meeting comes a week after about 30 people stood outside his Lake Dallas office demanding more town …
Republicans’ health plan will keep popular parts of Obamacare, says Oregon’s Greg Walden
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., on Saturday revealed details of Congressional Republicans’ plan for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, and in doing so indicated that the health care law’s most popular aspects will likely be preserved. Congressional Republicans’ new health care plan includes provisions to let Americans obtain insurance regardless of having a pre-existing condition, bar lifetime caps on health care benefits and allow adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26, Walden said.
New budget chief tackles Rubik’s cube of spending
The dyspeptic Henry Adams was not nice but not wrong when he described what now is named the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, as an “architectural infant asylum.” The granite pile, which once housed the State, War and Navy departments, was, Harry Truman said, “the greatest monstrosity in America.”
With ‘Trumpcare’ On Horizon, Voters Go Wobbly On Repeal
As candidate Donald Trump hammered the Affordable Care Act last year as “a fraud,” “a total disaster” and “very bad health insurance,” more Americans than not seemed to agree with him. Now that President Trump and fellow Republicans show signs of keeping their promise to dump the law, many appear to be having second thoughts.
GOP Hopes to Enlist Trump in Entitlement Reforms
Republicans in Congress are hopeful that despite his campaign promises to the contrary, President Trump will at some point embrace reforms to major entitlement programs long sought by GOP lawmakers to rein in federal spending and debt. Trump campaigned on preserving Medicare and Social Security, putting him at odds with most of his GOP primary opponents and the majority of the party.
Entitlement Reform – Medicare
Medicare, like Medicaid, has long been a reform target of congressional Republicans who seek to bend the cost curve for the program that provides coverage for more than 50 million seniors at a cost of more than $500 billion per year. Last year, Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled his proposal to convert Medicare to what is known as a “premium support” program in which the federal government would provide a payment on behalf of each Medicare recipient toward the purchase of a health insurance plan either a private plan, a similar Medicare Advantage plan or traditional Medicare.
Trump talks big, but making it happen is another thing
Like most presidential presentations, Donald Trump’s initial venture into the soaring chamber of the House of Representatives looked and sounded good, producing some positive reactions that could expand the embattled president’s short-term support. Trump’s hour-long address made solving massive national problems sound possible, from creating a more vibrant economy to revamping and expanding health care, if only both parties follow his lead.
Trump’s nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid advances
President Donald Trump ‘s nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid won committee approval Thursday, clearing her for a final floor vote in the Senate. Verma would head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency that oversees health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans.
House GOP eyes three-week plan on Obamacare
House Republicans on Thursday said leaders want to smooth over party divisions and pass their Obamacare repeal plan within three weeks, as the GOP scrambles to keep its health care promises before the Easter break. GOP leaders are trying to repeal and replace as much of the Affordable Care Act as they can under a fast-track budget process that allows them to avoid a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
Bipartisan group pushes opioid help amid Obamacare debate
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is fighting to keep attention focused on last session’s top health issue – abuse of prescription opioids, heroin and other drugs – although the 2010 health care law now dominates the health policy discourse.
Learn about the Affordable Care Act
The two leading conservative groups in the House both announced their opposition to House leadership health care plans based on a leaked draft and reports that the bill would cost more than expected while covering fewer people than the Affordable Care Act . In other words, the real world.
GOPa s Obamacare replacement plans provide less financial help, analyses show
… being considered. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s “A Better Way,” the House of Representatives’ discussion draft bill and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s “Empowering Patients First Act” all provide tax credits to help consumers purchase …
Rep. Guthrie Calls President Trump’s Agenda ‘Bold’
… “Tonight, President Trump set a bold agenda for fulfilling the promises he made throughout his campaign. As our health care system crumbles, our economy seeks to recover, and our world becomes more dangerous by the day, I am confident that President …
Trump speech highlights divide on Obamacare replacement
President Trump highlighted a growing divide among congressional Republicans over how to repeal and replace Obamacare when he backed health insurance tax credits Tuesday night. Republican leaders said Trump’s call to replace the healthcare law partially with tax credits allowing people to buy a wider range of health plans proves that they’re making progress on repeal and replace, even though conservatives are starting to publicly oppose such credits since they would be a new federal entitlement.
Stem cell treatment changed the life of one guest at Trump’s speech
… congressional speech Tuesday night. She credits an experimental stem cell treatment with giving her new hope for her health and her future – a newfound hope that also caught attention of Republican Rep. Pete Olson. Olson, who represents Texas’ 22nd …
Trumpa s budget plan sends a a very powerful messagea : budget director
President Trump’s budget plan sends a “very powerful message” that he wants to move spending “from overseas to back in this country,” Mick Mulvaney, the administration’s Office of Management and Budget Director, said on ABC’s Good Morning America Tuesday. “The president is doing what he’d say he’d do when he ran,” Mulvaney said to ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Trump looks to refocus his presidency in address to Congress
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with health insurance company executives, Monday, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. A presidential address to Congress is always part policy speech, part political theater.
Trump looks to refocus his presidency in address to Congress
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with health insurance company executives, Monday, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. A presidential address to Congress is always part policy speech, part political theater.
Stephanopoulos Grills Budget Director Over Trump’s ‘Wrecking…
… and come up with an Obamacare replacement that ” STEPHANOPOULOS: The president promising something special tonight on health care. But it looks like his plans to repeal and replace Obamacare are kind of stuck on Capitol Hill right now so is the …
Stephanopoulos Grills Budget Director Over Trump’s ‘Wrecking…
… and come up with an Obamacare replacement that ” STEPHANOPOULOS: The president promising something special tonight on health care. But it looks like his plans to repeal and replace Obamacare are kind of stuck on Capitol Hill right now so is the …
Top Conservatives Oppose GOP Health Care Plan, Muddying Path to 218
Meadows, center, and his conservative colleagues have expressed opposition to a House GOP plan to provide refundable tax credits to help individuals purchase insurance. The top two House conservatives on Monday said they cannot vote for their conference’s health care repeal and partial replacement plan in its current form, meaning House GOP leaders have some work to do before they can offer a bill that will get the 218 votes needed to pass the House.
Pressure on GOP to revamp health law grows, along with rifts
President Donald Trump declared Monday that “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” Yet the opposite has long been painfully obvious for top congressional Republicans, who face mounting pressure to scrap the law even as problems grow longer and knottier.
ObamaCare quietly leaves mark on Medicare despite repeal push
Republican efforts to repeal ObamaCare will likely leave Medicare untouched, meaning former President Obama will leave his mark on the popular health program for more than 58 million elderly and disabled “There are changes to Medicare that are in the ACA that have taken effect that people are benefiting from today,” Juliette Cubanski , Kaiser Family Foundation Medicare policy program associate director, told The Hill Extra. “Medicare, the way it is now, is really popular.
School budget set, reflects 6.3% increase in state funding
… funds to school districts, instead freezing discretionary funds while adding a new $15 million line item to cover health insurance cost increases, arguing that that would free up more of school districts’ discretionary funds for other expenses. …
JFAC debates public school budget, health insurance costs…
Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, arguing for his motion for the Operations Division of the public school budget, said he believes the public school budget needs a line item for health insurance costs. “More and more districts are saying that they need a line item,” he said.
The Republican replacement plan: Robin Hood in reverse | Editorial
… Obamacare without a replacement plan is pretty well established. About 21 million Americans would lose their health coverage, a number that would only grow. Premiums would likely double on the individual market. In New Jersey alone, $4.2 billion in …
Gov. John Kasich and Rep. Jim Jordan duel over Obamacare repeal on TV
… we will repeal it and replace it with a market centered, patient centered plan that actually brings back affordable health insurance.” Jordan said the House Freedom Caucus – which he co-founded – has worked on a replacement plan with Kentucky GOP …
Report warns of state money fallout from health law repeal
A sobering report to governors about the potential consequences of repealing the Obama-era health care law warns that federal spending cuts probably would create funding gaps for states and threaten many people with the loss of insurance coverage. The Affordable Care Act has two main components for expanding coverage: subsidized private health insurance available in all 50 states, and an optional Medicaid expansion that has been accepted by 31 states and the District of Columbia.
ACA replacement a growing concern
As Republicans try to unite around a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, one of the most popular parts of the law will be among the most difficult to replace: the guarantee of health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
Pre-existing conditions complicate health care replacement
As Republicans try to unite around a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, one of the most popular parts of the law will be among the most difficult to replace: the guarantee of health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. The challenge of providing insurance for Americans who have no other alternative has some congressional Republicans considering whether to ask the states to reboot high-risk pools, an option with a rocky history.
These Republican representatives have presented a ridiculous fairy tale
… plan will cure the ills engendered by the ACA – of course ignoring the fact that 20 million more Americans now have health insurance than before the ACA and health care costs are down. So what is their plan? Expand health savings accounts. So how …
GOP lawmakers continue to mislead about the ACA
After six years of blind rejection of the Affordable Care Act, and never proposing a plan on how to achieve affordable health care for all Americans, our elected representatives have finally given us a vague proposal, “alternative facts” and misleading statistics on the Affordable Care Act . On the very same day as this misleading diatribe, the Post-Gazette had an article showing that the percentage of Americans without health insurance was the lowest ever .
Democrats knock GOP Medicaid proposals
In this Jan. 31, 2017 file photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. arrives with Health and Human Services Secretary-designate, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga.