Senate leadership staff will huddle this week with their colleagues on three key committees to begin drafting the chamber’s legislation to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law. “The drafting process is going to get underway,” said John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Senate Republican. “Now we have enough direction, we’ve had enough meetings, we’ve got enough input from our members to know sort of what the main issues are, and kind of where the moving points are and how we can dial things. We’ll start putting stuff together and get it out there and let people react to it.”
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If the Senate were simply to remove the House bill’s uniform tax credit and continue the hybrid model past 2019 through 2020 and beyond, the bill would most likely get a better coverage score from the CBO. The Senate would be able to direct more financial assistance to those who need it, whether because of old age, ill health, or low income. Indeed, the Senate could tweak the exact formulas for age and income adjustment to maximize the number of people with health insurance in the most cost-effective way.
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For Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, writing a Republican-only health care bill that can pass the Senate boils down to this question: How do you solve a problem like Dean, Lisa, Patrick, Ted, Rand and Susan?
Those are some GOP senators whose clashing demands McConnell, R-Ky., must resolve. Facing solid Democratic opposition to demolishing former President Barack Obama’s 2010 overhaul, Republicans will lose if just three of their 52 senators defect.
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Americans view Humana Inc. and Aetna Inc. no less favorably after the industry giants announced their plans to pull out of the Affordable Care Act’s individual exchanges in 2018, according to Morning Consult Brand Intelligence data.
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The Trump budget assumes Obamacare repeal. On the tax side of this, it particularly assumes repeal of the 3.8% point surtax on capital gains, dividends, and other savings (known as the “net investment income tax,” or NIIT). There are approximately 20 other new or higher taxes in Obamacare that also will be repealed. Tax reform assumes they are gone before starting on a new system.
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As House Republicans passed legislation toppling large portions of the ACA, groups representing hospitals, doctors, consumers and some insurers made no secret of their displeasure. Now, in the Senate, which hopes to complete its own version of a health overhaul by August, Republicans are unambiguous about their intention to draft an entirely new bill in a more deliberate manner with input from outside groups. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the Senate Finance chairman whose committee is responsible for drafting much of the legislation, has specifically asked for suggestions from industry associations.
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The Congressional Budget Office released its latest Obamacare-related estimates
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CBO claims that the House repeal and replace bill could degrade the quality of insurance. This editorializing could use some scrutiny. Without government supervision of insurance minutiae and a mandate to buy coverage or pay a penalty, CBO asserts that “a few million” people will turn to insurance that falls short of the “widely accepted definition” of “a comprehensive major medical policy.” Under the House reform, Americans won’t have any problem insuring against a bad health event, even if CBO won’t admit it. The House bill is designed is create more alternatives that can accommodate the diverse needs and preferences of a nation of some 320 million people. CBO has become a fear factory because it prefers having government decide for everybody.
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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City announced yesterday it has decided to exit the Obamacare exchange next year. The decision affects about 67,000 Blue KC customers in 30 counties in western Missouri as well as Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas. Danette Wilson, Blue KC’s president and CEO, said that the company has lost more than $100 million total on its exchange plans since the ACA rolled out in 2014.
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