Consumers worry about what will happen after ACA repeal

Jan. 09--Republicans have been vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act -- pejoratively called "Obamacare" -- since the day it passed in 2010. And their promise finally appears to be coming true.

With support from president-elect Donald Trump, congressional Republicans last week began efforts to dismantle portions of the health care law that was President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.

But neither Trump nor Republicans have settled on a replacement, and that means about 20 million Americans who get their insurance through the ACA marketplace are in limbo.

"If they don't repeal and replace on the same day, what are we supposed to do?" asked Sara Kelly Jones, a Charlotte bartender who recently bought 2017 insurance with a subsidy that gave her an affordable monthly premium of $164.

"I just wish there was something concrete we could look at," said Jones, who earns $2.13 per hour plus tips and is facing major surgery this year. "Give us something, anything, instead of just pieces of a plan. I just think it's such a disservice to consumers."

Many Republicans and Trump supporters have repeatedly called the ACA a "failure" and a "disaster." They cite skyrocketing premiums, high deductibles that mean higher out-of-pocket expenses, and the dwindling number of participating insurers. Only one insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, offers plans through the federal marketplace in all 100 counties in the state.

The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released Friday found that 20 percent of Americans support repeal alone, but three-quarters either oppose repeal (47 percent) or want to wait for repeal until there is a replacement, (28 percent).

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