Understand the big picture
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| Published: | 2017-Mar-01 |
| Last Updated: | 2017-Jul-18 |
| Principal Writer: | Barry Shatzman |
 | Understanding The Issue |
| House Bill |
 | Senate Rewrites |
| Issue Status |
| Analysis and Perspectives |
| More Information |
American Health Care Act
2017 (HR-1628)
American Health Care Act (House)2017 (HR-1628H)
Better Care Reconciliation Act2017 (HR-1628S)
Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act2010 (HR-3590)
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Senate attempts to rewrite the entire bill
After failing to gather enough support for their own version of the bill, Senate Republicans attempted a new strategy. They would offer amendments to the bill - but each amendment would be a complete replacement. In this section the major amendments are exlained.
Simply repeal Obamacare
This amendment was called a clean repeal. It simply would have repealed key parts of Obamacare.
It was a near-duplicate of the Obamacare repeal bill that Congress passed in 2016 but was vetoed by President Barack Obama.
Provisions would have been phased in over two years, ostensibly to give Congress time to come up with an alternative health care policy.
This amendment was submitted by submitted by Rand Paul. It was rejected.
Click here to see how your senator voted.
Simply eliminating the requirement to have insurance
This amendment would have replaced the entire bill with an 8-page bill referred to as the skinny repeal.
Had this amendment been approved, the bill would have kept the bulk of Obamacare in place. It would have...
o Eliminated the requirement for employers to provide health care insurance.
o Stopped funding for Planned Parenthood.
This amendment was submitted by Mitch McConnell. It was rejected.
Click here to read the text of the "skinny repeal" amendment.
Click here to see how your senator voted.
Click here to read the CBO analysis.
Replacing Obamacare with block grants to states
This amendment (in effect a full bill) would have replaced Obamacare with grants given to states. It would have...
o Ended the subsidies that help people afford insurance policies.
o Ended Cost Sharing Reduction Subsidies that help insurance companies reduce out-of-pocket expenses for those with low incomes.
o Ended Medicaid Expansion.
These benefits of Obamacare would have been replaced with block grants given to states.
Each state would effectively be free to use the money to set up any type of health care it wanted. This includes eliminating the requirement that policies cover essential health benefits such as preventive care or maternity care, as well as allowing insurance companies to charge more for someone with pre-existing conditions.
Catastrophic plans - low cost plans with high deductibles and few benefits - would be available to anyone. Under Obamacare they are only available to those under age 30.
Policies would not be allowed to cover abortions. And funding for Planned Parenthood would be eliminated.
The amount someone could contribute to a Health Savings Account would be increased.
Some of the taxes that help pay for Obamacare, such as the Medical Device Tax, would be eliminated.
Click here to read the full text of this amendment.
Click here to continue to the next section of this issue...