‘Repeal now, replace later’ has immediate consumer impact
Problems could start this fall for customers buying individual health policies, say independent experts, with more insurers likely to exit state markets around the country, and those remaining seeking higher rates.
Low-income people who qualified for expanded Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, might be shielded for a year or two. But then federal funding for their coverage would stop and states would have to decide whether to keep those able-bodied adults on the rolls.
Though the latest approach seems doomed to fail, Senate Majority Leader
Meanwhile, President
With no good options for
'RECIPE FOR CHAOS'
The repeal bill that McConnell is contemplating would not fully repeal the 2010 law enacted under President
The ACA requirement that individuals carry insurance would disappear right away. That would be followed in two years by the tax credits that help individuals pay their insurance premiums, as well as the money to subsidize state coverage for adults eligible for expanded Medicaid.
But ACA rules that make insurance more costly would remain in place for the foreseeable future. Those include protections for people with pre-existing conditions, standard benefits, and a limit on how much insurers can charge older adults.
That head-scratching outcome would stem from
"It's a recipe for chaos," said
Combine that with uncertainty about the Trump administration's intentions, and "there would be an increased number of insurers exiting the market, leaving more counties without any coverage," Levitt added.
Conservative policy expert
"The insurance markets would become quite a bit more unstable in the near term," said Capretta. "Even before the subsidy structure is fully withdrawn the uncertainty would probably unravel the thing."
'LET IT FAIL'
If
But not all of "Obamacare" is teetering. Medicaid expansion in 31 states basically operates on autopilot. And private insurance markets are stable in most areas, albeit with less consumer choice. Finally, voters might not blame Obama for the problems and instead turn their ire on Trump and the
Insurers say their major worry currently is the reluctance of the
Some insurers have cited the lack of a guarantee on the subsidies as a factor behind requested premium increases for next year.
Insurers make their final decisions for 2018 by the end of September.
"With open enrollment ... only three months away, our members and all Americans need the certainty and security of knowing coverage will be available and affordable for them," said
The subsidies are under a legal cloud because of a lawsuit filed by
AN 'IOU' FROM CONGRESS
In theory "repeal now, replace later," would create space for orderly health care negotiations while
But in the current unsettled political climate, that could work in just the opposite way.
"You've got an IOU for health system change, and we don't really know what will happen," said
And
With past similar schemes, "
Even with another two years there's no guarantee
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