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House Republicans release plan to repeal, replace Obamacare

By Elsa Gillis
By Elsa Gillis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — House Republicans on Monday released their long-awaited plan for unraveling former President Barack Obama's health care law, a package that would scale back the government's role in helping people afford coverage and likely leave more Americans uninsured.

Here are the key aspects of the proposed house GOP bill:

  • Repeals the individual mandate, which fines people who don't buy coverage.
  • Instead of income-based subsidies to buy insurance, people get a tax-credit based on age.
  • Maintains coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
  • Allows children to stay on their parents' plan until they're 26.

Political science professor Eric Heberlig said that some of these provisions will be popular in theory, but could present some problems.

"Paying for that, people with pre-existing conditions, it was really the key in Obamacare, and that's why they had the individual mandate, to help pay for the very expensive people with pre-existing conditions," Heberlig said.

He said that many people could lose their insurance if given a tax credit they have to wait for instead of a subsidy upfront.

"The risk here is (that) the lower income people, who can't now afford to buy their own healthcare insurance, still won't be able to," Heberlig said.

He said push-back from Democrats is already likely, but from Republicans, that is up in the air.

"I think one of the keys for Republicans is, how much this going to cost and how many people are likely to lose their coverage?" Heberlig said.

The plan was released without a score from the Congressional Budget Office, so we don't know how many people could lose their coverage and how much it will cost.

The bill also proposes limiting federal funding for Medicaid, which Heberlig said could result in people losing their insurance, and some votes against the bill, even from Republicans.

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