Repealing the ACA will lead to "chaos," HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell warned Republicans, according to CNN.
Sec. Burwell told CNN Dec. 14 that repealing the ACA will eliminate millions of people's healthcare coverage, cause premiums to spike and spur broad uncertainty in the insurance market.
"If there is repeal, there would be chaos," Sec. Burwell said, according to the report. "If your child is on your policy until [age] 26, and it's repealed, that goes away. If you have a pre-existing condition — asthma, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, any of those things — you could be kept off of insurance if you had to make a move or a transition or were unemployed for a portion of time." She added, "The 20 million folks who have gotten insurance — that would go away too."
Many policy experts concur the ACA is so large and complex that scaling it back or repealing it would be messy and disruptive.
"It is a difficult task and our system is one where when you move one piece, it's related to another piece," Sec. Burwell said regarding a partial repeal of the ACA. "It's like a Jenga puzzle. And if you pull a piece out, you can make the thing tumble."
In response to these concerns, congressional Republicans have suggested delaying implementation of the repeal by three to four years in what's been dubbed "repeal and delay," according to the report.