On May 4th, 2017 the House of Representatives announced that they recently approved legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. This was a shocking move, as it seemed like the repeal process would not happen as there was no planned replacement. However, it happened and about 20 million people who were previously covered under the Affordable Care Act are wondering what is going to happen next. So how did this happen and what is there to look forward to?The road to repealing Obamacare was a long and complex one that still isn't solved yet. Ever since its inception, Republicans had been trying to take down the affordable care act, with no avail. However, when Donald Trump took office and a conservative-controlled congress at his side, the repeal effort became much stronger. In March 2017, a replacement called the American Health Care Act was proposed. It contained similar elements, however it wasn't by tax credits but rather block grants instead. This seemed promising for conservatives, however on March 24, 2017 the House leaders announced they would pull the legislation, prompting the House speaker to say “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.”
On May 4, 2017 the House of Representatives narrowly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, however it is not entirely done. The bill will have to go to the Senate for ratification, and it has been announced that the Senate will not even vote on this bill. Instead, they will draft a new one. If the ACA is repealed, here is what will happen. Initially MedicAid was set to expand to cover more families near the poverty line, but with the new bill that will not happen. The bill also repeals a mandate that uninsured people have to pay a tax. The new bill also lets insurers charge old consumers five times as much as younger ones. The final notable thing it does is its intentions to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, which is a place people normally go to see if they want an abortion.
So what happens now? Looking forward, in this new plan younger people will get cheaper plans, but that will be at the expense of the older generation. The states won't have as harsh health requirements on them. People with low incomes will become uninsured, and those with pre-existing conditions will have to pay even more.
Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/04/what-does-the-republican-obamacare-repeal-bill-actually-do/101278668/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/us/politics/health-care-affordable-care-act.html
Great post about the repeal of Obamacare. It is a huge current event in America and will effect millions of people. I've done some research about it as well and the new policies to get healthcare are a lot stricter, making it much harder for the average american it to be able to get the healthcare they need. The new policy that is proposed in place of Obamacare makes it so that states can decide how much extra to charge customers with pre-existing conditions and it doesn't set any limits on that. It will be interesting to see what happens with the proposed new healthcare and the repeal of Obamacare.
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It is so important that people are informed about this current event as it is so influential and impacts millions of people in the US. I find it incredibly disheartening that the price of healthcare will increase exponentially for some people and that there will be no efforts to provide healthcare for poorer families, as the US is the farthest behind for universal healthcare out of all developed countries. I also wonder how the defunding of Planned Parenthood will affect abortion rates.
ReplyDeleteThis post was extremely informative and goes over a currently very important topic. The repeal of Obamacare will impact millions of Americans. The new deal as proposed by Donald Trump will affect those who, arguably, need health care the most; it raises costs for the elderly and the sick while lowering said costs for younger, healthier people. It also takes funding away from extremely important organizations/programs like special education schools.
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