Last week, the House took the first step to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by passing a bill titled "The American Health Care Act" (AHCA). On May 4, 2017, after numerous fits and starts over the past several weeks, negotiations and several amendments, Republicans narrowly passed an amended version of the bill by a vote of 217-213.
In the attached summary, Akin Gump examines the key policy changes that result from the AHCA and the bill's impact on various health industry stakeholders. A key issue with the AHCA is that the impact of the House-passed version on health coverage and the federal budget remains uncertain, as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has yet to complete its analysis of the legislation. The Akin Gump team identifies three key categories of the AHCA's reforms:
- changes in coverage and affordability in the (nonpublic) individual and small group insurance markets
- alterations in Medicaid expansion and federal participation
- repeal of several industry taxes that generate a substantial share of the revenue used to pay for the ACA's coverage expansion.
With House passage secured, the administration and Senate Republicans are wasting no time beginning what will likely be a tedious and lengthy quest to capture 50 votes in the Senate. The summary lays out some of the key players in health policy in the Senate and issues that they will need to tackle in order to advance AHCA to the finish line.
Click here to read the full overview of the AHCA, including the adopted amendments and substantive polices outlined therein, as well as the available CBO cost estimates.
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