Just hours ago, the U.S. House of Representatives approved its version of repeal and replace what most refer to as “Obamacare.” Even political commentators at The Hill call the newly approved House bill “a good deal.” Eric Schleider of the Pro-Life Action League concurs.
“With today’s vote in the House, our leaders in Congress have taken a giant step toward keeping the promise they made to voters last year to defund Planned Parenthood,” says Schleider. “Now it’s time for the Senate and President Trump to get the job done.”
The House bill now must pass the U.S. Senate before reaching President Trump’s desk for signing into law or veto.
“The bottom line,” writes Hadley Health Manning in an Op.Ed. piece, “is that this bill would be a tremendous improvement from the current system. And in its latest form, the bill balances concerns about high costs and limited choice with protections for pre-existing conditions.”
Highlights of the House-approved bill include the following:
- States would be allowed to get waivers from rules that prevent insurance companies from pricing policies according to risk (a key facet of insurance), and from rules requiring all plans to cover the so-called “Essential Health Benefits” in Obamacare. States that receive such waivers will likely see steep reductions in health insurance prices and an increase in insured people. These same states will be required to operate high-risk pools to accommodate those individuals who have extremely costly conditions if they need a safety net.
- A federal program is to be established—“Federal Invisible Risk-Sharing Program”—to create a federal invisible risk pool as a safety net for those with pre-existing conditions. This provision is similar to invisible risk pools set up in Idaho and Maine before Obamacare became law.
- These “invisible risk pools” essentially prevent those who do not have high-risk or pre-existing conditions from being forced to pay radically inflated premiums in order to cover the cost of high-risk cases, as Obamacare did.
- Most of the mandates and taxes required by Obamacare (mis-named the “Affordable Care Act”) would be eliminated.
- The structure of tax credits available to self-insured individuals would change.
- The Medicaid program would be reformed and modernized, changing funding from an open-ended federal match to a block grant or per-capita funding system based on enrollment.
According to Manning, who is the director of health policy for the Independent Women’s Forum and a senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Voice, and whose work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, POLITICO, Roll Call, Real Clear Policy, National Review Online and Huffington Post, this bill is Step One in what is envisioned as a three-step process to reverse Obamacare’s disastrous effects.
In Step Two, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price is to take administrative action. In Step Three, further legislation to address those issues not addressed in the Step One bill are to be considered.