The House passed a bill to change the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare). If it becomes law, what does it mean to you?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires businesses with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance to employees working 30 hours or more a week. The new bill, if implemented, ends coverage requirements for large employers. This “could” result in employees losing coverage or having to pay more toward their medical care. That stated, most large employers offered insurance long before the ACA required it so most people who obtain insurance through their employers will likely not see any change.
Under current law, people are protected by not having annual or lifetime limits on the amount of care they receive. If your cancer care costs $2 million, the insurer pays it. Under the new bill, states are allowed to apply for waivers that could alter or abolish these provisions thereby limiting the amount of care an individual would receive on an annual or lifetime basis. While such limitations would cap the amount of care an individual would receive, these provisions could also reduce insurance premiums for all insured because it would limit the amount of money being paid by the insurer.
The personal mandate to have insurance would no longer exist. Instead, the House bill prohibits insurance companies from terminating policies and from charging more for people with pre-existing conditions as long as their insurance doesn’t lapse. If there is a coverage lapse greater than 63 days, however, insurers can charge a 30% penalty over their premium for one year. To ensure people with pre-existing conditions have coverage, $38 billion is being allocated for high-risk insurance pools, and maternity and childbirth services.
Subsidies will change, instead of income-based tax credits and subsidies, the new plan will implement age-based tax credits ranging from $2,000 a year for people in their 20s to $4,000 a year for those 60 and older.
The new bill eliminates nearly all of the taxes that were included in the ACA. These taxes which total nearly $592 billion included taxing incomes over $200,000 (or $250,000 for a married couple); a tax on health insurers and a limit on how much insurers can deduct for executive pay; and a tax on medical-device manufacturers.
The COB predicts that the House bill would cut federal deficits by $337 billion over 10 years.