Healthcare Bill

aris2chat

Gold Member
Feb 17, 2012
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Senate Republicans have just released their official 142-page healthcare bill.

Don't let fear mongers control the narrative. Get the facts.

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  • Ends ACA mandates for individuals AND employers

  • Funds the ACA's cost-sharing subsidies through 2019 but then only provides tax credits for people with incomes up to 350% of the federal povery level

  • Tax cuts largely similar to those in the House bill. That includes repealing a 3.8% tax on investment income retroactively to January 2017 and delaying the repeal of a 0.9% payroll tax until 2023

  • Contributes $62 billion to a "State Innovation Fund"

  • Seeks funding for insurers through 2021

  • Allows 'children' to stay on parental plans until the age of 26

  • Bill suspends 'Cadillac Tax' on employer health plans through 2025
Medicaid: The plan would roll back the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion more gradually than the House version would, but would ultimately make deeper cuts to the program. While states' funding from Washington would be capped for the first time in the history of the Medicaid program, states would be given a choice of the formula used -- 'block grants' or 'per capita caps' -- to curb it under the bill.

Planned Parenthood: The bill would strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood Federation of America for one year. It also prohibits tax credits from being used to purchase plans that offer abortion coverage.

Senate Republicans provided additional summary details here:



Short-Term Stabilization Fund: To help balance premium costs and promote more choice in insurance markets throughout the country, this stabilization fund would help address coverage and access disruption – providing $15 billion per year in 2018 and 2019; $10 billion per year in 2020 and 2021.



Cost-Sharing Reductions: Continues federal assistance – through 2019 – to help lower health care costs for low-income Americans in the individual market.



Long-Term State Innovation Fund: Dedicates $62 billion, over 8 years, to encourage states to assist high-cost and low-income individuals to purchase health insurance by making it more affordable.



Tax Credits: Targeted tax credits will help defray the cost of purchasing insurance; these advanceable and refundable credits - adjusted for income, age and geography - will help ensure those who truly need financial assistance can afford a health plan.



Health Savings Accounts: Expanded tax-free Health Savings Accounts to give Americans greater flexibility and control over medical costs; increased contribution limits to help pay for out-of-pocket health costs and to help pay for over-the-counter medications.



Repeals Obamacare Taxes: Repeal costly Obamacare taxes that contribute to premium increases and hurt life-saving health care innovation, like the taxes on health insurance, prescription drugs, medical devices, and “high-cost” employer sponsored plans.



Empowers states through state innovation waivers (Obamacare 1332 Waiver): Provide states additional flexibility to use waivers that exist in current law to decide the rules of insurance and ultimately better allow customers to buy the health insurance they want. Allow the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fast-track applications from states experiencing an Obamacare emergency.



Preserve access to care for Americans with pre-existing conditions, and allow children to stay on their parents’ health insurance through age 26. (There are no changes to current law as it applies to Veterans, Medicare, or Social Security benefits.)



Strengthen Medicaid for those who need it most by giving states more flexibility while ensuring that those who rely on this program won’t have the rug pulled out from under them.



Targets Medicaid to Those Most in Need: In 2021, begins gradual reductions in the amount of federal Obamacare funds provided to expand Medicaid, restoring levels of federal support to preexisting law by 2024 while providing fairness for non-expansion states.



New Protection for the Most Vulnerable: Guarantees children with medically complex disabilities will continue to be covered.



Provides additional state flexibility to address the substance abuse and mental health crisis.



Flexibilities for Governors: Allows states to choose between block grant and per-capita support for their Medicaid population beginning in 2020, with a flexibility in the calculation of the base year. Allows states to impose a work requirement on non-pregnant, non-disabled, non-elderly individuals receiving Medicaid.



New Protections for Taxpayers: Curbs Medicaid funding gimmicks that drive up federal costs.
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It amazes me how Chucky Schumer can bitch about not having been allowed to participate in the plan' s design, yet he had to come out against it just a few minutes after it was released. He couldn't possibly have read it that fast!
 
It amazes me how Chucky Schumer can bitch about not having been allowed to participate in the plan' s design, yet he had to come out against it just a few minutes after it was released. He couldn't possibly have read it that fast!
And that's what they do best...talk out of their ass.
 

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