In a new addition to Trump’s failed efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), he has now demanded that the Senate to pass his new bill, or he will implement provisions against senators, Associated Press reports.
Trump is prepared to soon cease required payments to insurers under the ACA, also known as ObamaCare, aides told The Associated Press. Additionally, he has threatened to cancel senators’ entire summer break until it is repealed.
Republicans have promised to overturn ObamaCare since its inception eight years ago, but it was not until March of this year that they proposed any kind of replacement.
Their proposal is called the amended American Health Care Act (AHCA), which confusingly sounds a lot like ACA. It would take millions of Americans off of insurance, end cost cap restrictions, and eliminate funding for Medicaid expansion.
What the new health care bill means
Right now, Obamacare requires that insurance companies cover maternity, prescription drugs, mental health and substance abuse, according to CNN Money. Under the new Republican proposal, states can opt out of having insurance companies cover these essential benefits for our communities. The new proposal would also drastically change Medicaid, which Americans have been able to benefit from since it was enacted along with Medicare in 1965.
The Medicaid program now covers more than 70 million people or one out of every five Americans. The Congressional Budget office expects that under the AHCA, federal support for Medicaid would be cut 25 percent by 2026.
All of these provisions could take us back to life before ObamaCare when having a pre-existing condition meant you could be denied coverage or be dropped from your insurance carrier.
If you had a life-threatening condition, or your child or spouse developed one, your premiums would immediately rise or you would be dropped. Often, those who received essential care had to foot the entire bill themselves. If someone underwent a $300,000, life-sustaining open-heart surgery, they would be left with daily calls from debt collectors.
Currently, under ObamaCare, there are solid protections in place for those with pre-existing conditions. Americans cannot be dropped or billed more for getting pregnant or developing cancer. Trump’s proposal would allow states to opt out of some of those provisions, according to CNN Money. So, insurers could have the option charge people more based on their health history.
The new act, which would take effect in 2020, is based on income and the cost of premiums in the area. It would offer tax cuts based on a person’s age. That would cap tax credits at $2,000 for 20-somethings, and $4,000 for those in their early 60s.
Basically, if you are 21 years old and you suddenly find out you have Leukemia, you may not receive coverage for your treatments.
No one from the medical community was present during the write-up of the new act. In April, The American Medical Association openly urged Congress to vote against the bill.
Republicans say health care is not needed
Many Republicans have said that if you take care of yourself, you shouldn’t need health care. In May, Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) said at a town hall at Lewis-Clark State College, “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care,” The Hill reports.
In the most recent Senate vote on the new AHCA, three out of 54 Republicans and all of the 48 Democrats voted against it. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), who actually voted in favor of an open debate on repealing and replacing ObamaCare last week, voted “no” on the new proposal when it hit the floor, just before he left for Arizona to be treated for brain cancer.
John McCain helped give the GOP health care repeal bill new life, then he killed it: https://t.co/PoTiLkvM38
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) July 29, 2017
Although nothing has been passed yet, the administration is trying to hinder ObamaCare in other little ways. They have scrapped ACA contracts for libraries, businesses and urban neighborhoods in 18 cities. This means that shoppers on the insurance exchanges will have fewer places where they can sign up for coverage, Associated Press reports.
In addition, the administration has cut paid advertisements for HealthCare.gov where Americans can sign up for coverage.
Earlier this month, Trump said in a press conference that aired on CBS that we should, “let ObamaCare fail, and then everybody is going to have to come together and fix it.”
