New GOP Health Care Plan Raises Concerns
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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) - Democrats, health care professionals, and the insurance industry have many questions about the Republican replacement plan to replace Obamacare.
While the replacement plan keeps many of the elements from the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act, it removes the individual mandate, the employer mandate, and most taxes. Those items are replaced with a massive expansion of health savings accounts and refundable tax credits for low and middle-income Americans who don't get health coverage through their employer. Tax credits range from two thousand to $14-thousand a year.
The legislation does keep portions of the ACA including protection for those with pre-existing conditions and dependent coverage until the age of 26. It also delays the rollback of the Medicaid expansion until 2020.
"We think the system that the House introduced actually provides more affordable health care for people so when they do get sick, they can afford to go to the doctor," said Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Approximately 20-million previously uninsured Americans gained coverage under Obamacare. It's unclear how many will receive coverage under the GOP version and if they could afford to pay for it.
"Show us the numbers about what the impact is personally on people, show us the numbers on how many people will be thrown off," demanded House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Democrats say the bill will cause many to lose their insurance and shift the cost of caring for them to states and hospital systems.
House committees plan to begin voting on the legislation on Wednesday.
