US House Republicans Unveil Bill To Repeal Obamacare Monday March 06,2017

Republicans in the US House of Representatives unveiled long-awaited legislation on Monday March 06,2017 to repeal much of the Obamacare healthcare law, including its expansion of the Medicaid programme for the poor.

President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans in Congress have repeatedly promised to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement known as the 2010 Affordable Care Act. It was not immediately clear if the bill had enough support to pass the Republican-led Congress. It goes next to two House committees for review.

The proposal would freeze enrollment in Obamacare's expanded Medicaid programme on January 1, 2020. States that expanded Medicaid could still sign up individuals until the end of 2019, and continue to receive enhanced federal funds for them thereafter, Republican aides said. But going forward, federal funds for Medicaid would be capped.

While eliminating the income-based subsidies for purchasing insurance under Obamacare, the proposal would instead offer age-based refundable tax credits. Those would be capped at upper-income levels, Republican aides said.

The proposal would repeal most Obamacare-levied taxes in January 2018 and immediately repeal the penalty for the individual and employer mandates to buy insurance. It would not, however, cap the existing tax exemption for employer-sponsored health insurance, although some lawmakers had favoured that.

"Our legislation transfers power from Washington back to the American people," House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady said in a statement.

Democrats have warned that Republicans risk throwing the entire US healthcare system into chaos by repealing the Obamacare law that was passed by congressional Democrats over united Republican opposition. The law enabled about 20 million previously uninsured people to get medical insurance.

HIGHLIGHTS OF HOUSE GOP HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION 

Here are highlights of the legislation unveiled Monday by House Republicans as they move to dismantle former President Barack Obama's health care law and replace it with a system designed along conservative lines. 

Primarily affected would be some 20 million people who purchase their own private health plans directly from an insurer and the more than 70 million covered by Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people.

Here's a look at some of the major components:

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE

• Provides tax credits for people purchasing their own health insurance. The subsidies would be keyed primarily to age, rising as people get older. 
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• Financial assistance would be phased out for individuals making more than $75,000 and married couples earning more than $150,000. 
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• Subsidies could be used to buy any plan approved by a state.
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• Eliminates cost-sharing subsidies in Obama's Affordable Care Act that helped people with modest incomes meet the costs of insurance deductibles and copayments. 
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• States, however, would have the option of providing similar assistance with federal financing.
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• Greatly expands contributions to health savings accounts, which allow people with high-deductible insurance to cover expenses that their plans don't pay for.
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• Protects people with pre-existing health problems from being denied coverage. 
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• However, consumers must maintain continuous coverage - otherwise, they would face a flat 30 percent surcharge on top of their premiums. 
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• States could use federal money to create high-risk pools as insurers of last resort.
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• Preserves ACA provision that let young adults stay on parental coverage until they turn 26.
• Allows insurers to charge their oldest customers up to 5 times what they charge young adults. The ACA limits that to 3 times.
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• Prohibits use of tax credits to purchase any plan that covers elective abortions. Currently if a health plan covers abortions it must collect a separate premium to pay for such procedures.
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MEDICAID

• Maintains the ACA's higher federal financing for expanded Medicaid through the end of 2019. 
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• After that, states can only continue to receive enhanced federal payments for beneficiaries already covered by the expansion, which has mainly helped low-income adults with no children living at home. 
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• But for newly enrolled beneficiaries, the federal government would provide a lower level of financing.
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• Overhauls the broader Medicaid program to end its open-ended federal financing. 
• Instead, each state would receive a limited amount based on its enrollment and costs. 
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• That federal payment would be increased according to a government measure of medical inflation.
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• Imposes a one-year funding freeze on Planned Parenthood, a major provider of women's health services, including abortion.
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PENALTIES & TAXES

• Repeals the ACA's tax penalties on people who remain uninsured and on larger employers who do not offer coverage. The repeal is retroactive to 2016.
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• Repeals the ACA's taxes on upper-income earners, investors, health insurance plans and medical device manufacturers. 
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• Repeals 10 percent sales tax on indoor tanning.
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COVERAGE

• Expected to cover fewer people than the Obama-era law, but final estimates are not yet available from the Congressional Budget Office

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4287928/U-S-House-Republicans-unveil-bill-repeal-Obamacare.html#ixzz4acLaUD2G 
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