The draft of the legislation, Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Repeal and Replace of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, states that the penalty for not buying insurance would be rolled back, and that this aspect of the legislation will be made retroactive to 2016. Interestingly, however, a new article in the legislation requires Americans to maintain "continuous coverage." Individuals who do not demonstrate continuous coverage will be slapped with a 30 percent penalty. The plan will be branded as the American Health Care Act.
Other contentious points that the public has awaited in the new plan are the subsidies consumers use to buy health plans on the marketplace exchanges. Now, "tax-credits" will be distributed according to age, instead of income, but the tax-credits will be capped at a certain income threshold.
— NPR (@NPR) March 6, 2017
On the Medicaid front, the plan freezes enrollment into state Medicaid programs effective at the beginning of 2020. State Medicaid programs were expanded under more than 30 states as part of the Affordable Care Act and produced more than half of Obamacares's gains, which helped more than 20 million Americans get some type of health plan. According to the new plan, federal funding for Medicaid will be limited based on 2016 Medicaid expenditures. The Medicaid program will also implement "per capita caps" in an attempt to control federal Medicaid expenditures.
The tax credits individuals and families will be able to use based on age start at $2,000 per year for people in their 20s and escalate to $4,000 per year for individuals over 60. Families earning more than $150,000 per year and individuals demonstrating income in excess of $75,000 per year will not be eligible for the tax-credits, under the proposal.
The controversial Cadillac tax will be repealed in addition to all other taxes related to Obamacare, which would include the medical device industry tax. Further, employered-sponsored insurance, which is not taxed out of one's income, will no longer have a limit on the tax break one can get from ESI.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 6, 2017
Since the draft is part of the budget reconcilliation bill, other measures Republicans have expressed support for, such as selling insurance across state lines and enacting medical malpractice reform, are not included in the bill, Axios reports.
