Dr. Rand Paul Reintroduces Obamacare Repeal Passed by Republicans in Last Congress

WASHINGTON, March 9 -- The office of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., issued the following news release:

This week, U.S. Senator and physician Rand Paul reintroduced the same legislation, with an updated timeline, to repeal major components of Obamacare that an overwhelming Republican majority sent to President Obama's desk in January 2016. Congressman Jim Jordan (OH) has introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Last week, Dr. Paul was joined by U.S. Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz in calling for the 2015 reconciliation bill to be the minimum standard for repeal moving forward.

"The Republican Party is unified on Obamacare repeal," said Dr. Paul. "We can honor our promise right away by passing the same language we acted on in the last Congress. Then, we can have a separate vote on replacement legislation that will deliver lower costs, better care, and greater access to the American people."

In January, Dr. Paul introduced the free-market based Obamacare Replacement Act (S. 222), which empowers Americans to: 1.) Choose inexpensive insurance free of government dictates; 2.) Save unlimited amounts in a health savings account (HSA) and have wider options for using those funds; 3.) Buy insurance across state lines; and 4.) Join together in voluntary associations to gain the leverage of being part of a large insurance pool.

You can find a one-page summary of Dr. Paul's Obamacare Replacement Act HERE (https://www.paul.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ObamacareReplacementActSummary.pdf).

You can read S. 554, the Obamacare Repeal Act, HERE (https://www.paul.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ObamacareRepealAct.pdf), and you can find more details below.

S. 554, the Obamacare Repeal Act:

* Repeals the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), which gives $2 billion a year to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to spend however they like. The PPHF has also been called the "Obamacare Slush Fund."

* Eliminates the penalties associated with Obamacare's individual and employer mandates to purchase health coverage, effectively ending the mandates.

* Repeals the Medical Device Tax beginning in 2018.

* Repeals the Cadillac Tax in 2020, stopping it from going into effect.

* Prevents the HHS Secretary from making payments under Obamacare's reinsurance program, which is one of the ways the law has provided a bailout to insurance companies.

* Repeals Obamacare's Premium Tax Credits and Cost-Sharing Subsidies, effective after 2019.

* Repeals Obamacare's Penalties on Health Savings Accounts - Obamacare placed new limits and restrictions on contributions to HSAs, MSAs, HRAs, and FSAs. It also restricted the allowable expenses for which a consumer can use these accounts.

* Repeals Other Obamacare Taxes - Includes repeals of the health insurance tax (HIT), the annual fee on manufacture and import of pharmaceuticals, the Medicare surtax, excise tax on indoor tanning, net investment tax, remuneration, and economic substance doctrine. It would also restore the medical expenses deduction.

* Eliminates eligibility for the Medicaid expansion as of 2020 and the associated enhanced federal matching rate. The bill would also repeal the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital reductions.

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