Republicans Release Obamacare Alternative
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
The proposal sounds familiar, but the chances of it passing probably slim.
An alternative to Obamacare has been proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, and Senator Richard Burr, which would eliminate the individual mandates under the ACA while maintaining the tax credits for low-income individuals to obtain private health insurance coverage, reports The Hill.
The plan, called the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, is “a legislative plan that repeals Obamacare and replaces it with common-sense, patient-focused reforms that reduce health care costs and increase access to affordable, high-quality care,” notes a press release. The plan was released as the House voted to repeal the ACA, but it also faces competition from several other Republican replacement options.
The Hatch-Upton-Burr plan would eliminate the ACA requirements for individuals to buy healthcare coverage and employers to offer it. It also would provide tax credits to individuals who are already covered through Medicaid to purchase private plans. Financial help would no longer be available for families on the upper levels of the income scale.
“Under our plan, every American will be able to access a health plan, but no American is forced to have health insurance they do not want,” the nine-page document asserts. This proposal is very similar to proposals offered by Hatch, Upton, and Burr in early 2014.
Although the proposed bill would return a majority of the healthcare regulatory power to states, it also would establish certain federal baselines, such as capping healthcare taxes for employees, and would maintain two of the most popular provisions of Obamacare – the protections for people with preexisting conditions and the rule that allows young adults to say on their parent’s plans until age 26.
“Today, we offer a bold bicameral plan that fully repeals and replaces the healthcare law with reforms that empower patients – not Washington. We agree we can’t return to the status quo of the pre-Obamacare world, so we equip patients with tools that will drive down costs while also ensuring those with pre-existing conditions and the young are protected," Hatch wrote in the release.
Think Progress opines the Burr-Hatch-Upton plan is very similar to a GOP proposal introduced in 2014 that never went anywhere, and is just one of a number of Republican plans in the works. According to The Washington Post, however, “Health policy aides for Burr, Hatch and Upton said this plan could be the basis for the party’s long-term vision for health reform. This plan is achievable, and above all, fiscally sustainable. And, unlike the passage of Obamacare, which was done in secret, we welcome input from the American people as we move this plan forward,” Hatch asserted.