Urgent efforts by Republican lawmakers to follow through on a six-year campaign to repeal the ACA are shrouding major divisions within the GOP on what to replace the health law with and when, according to a feature in The Los Angeles Times.
So far, no major healthcare organization representing patients, physicians or hospitals has backed the GOP strategy to address the ACA. Many conservative health policy experts have also warned that the Republican plan being developed, which includes a vote in January to repeal the healthcare law followed by a long period of time to come up with a replacement, could be a disaster.
Here are five thoughts on the matter, according to The LA Times.
1. Patient advocacy groups have warned millions of Americans are in danger of losing healthcare benefits and protections afforded to them under the ACA and have called on Republicans to agree on a replacement plan before taking apart the current system.
"When people get cancer, they have to know that they are going to have insurance," Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society's advocacy arm, told the LA Times. "There have been and are problems with the ACA, but we have to make sure that what is done and the way it is done is not going to leave people who have cancer or who may get cancer … in the lurch."
2. Republican lawmakers are aiming to pass a bill in January that would repeal many key provisions of the ACA, including money for states to expand the Medicaid program and billions of dollars in federal funding that have provided premium subsidies to low- and middle-income Americans. To reduce disruptions, some senior Republicans want to delay when the cuts would come into effect, which would give them more time to agree on a replacement plan.
3. While this approach has gained the support of some conservative think tanks, most independent experts are weary of approving repeal without first having a replacement plan in place. The American Academy of Actuaries last week wrote a letter to House Republicans warning that many insurers will likely pull out of state marketplaces, even if the ACA isn't repealed right away.
4. Similar warnings have come from other Republican leaders, such as the insurance commissioner of Iowa, and some leading conservative critics of the current law, including James Capretta, resident fellow and Milton Friedman Chair of the American Enterprise Institute, and John Goodman, PhD, president and CEO of the Goodman Institute.
5. While Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.) said the GOP's plan would maintain healthcare coverage for the millions of people who gained insurance under the ACA, current repeal plans would eliminate taxes that provide the hundreds of billions of dollars that finance that coverage. "If all Obamacare goes away, including its funding sources, where does the money come from to continue the insurance for the 20 million newly insured under the Affordable Care Act?" Dr. Goodman wrote in a recent Forbes column, according to The LA Times. President-elect Donald Trump and his congressional allies have yet to answer that question.