Two Republican lawmakers have departed from their party's core goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act by putting forward a bill that maintains parts of the health reform law, according to The Hill.
Under the bill from Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the ACA's individual and employer mandates would be repealed. The bill would also do away with the ACA's requirements for what an insurance plan must cover.
However, parts of the ACA would be left in place under the legislation, including safeguards against insurers discriminating based on pre-existing conditions.
The bill would also provide a $2,500 tax credit that any citizen could use to buy health insurance.
Although Rep. Sessions and Sen. Cassidy recognize their plan is a departure from the GOP's quest to repeal the ACA, they said a full repeal of the health reform law cannot currently be achieved.
"We know that the only way that we're going to be able to totally repeal and replace now is if we keep the House, have 60 Republican senators, or enough Democrats who will vote with us, and a Republican president," Rep. Cassidy said, according to The Hill. "If we get that, we will go the whole way, but we can't kind of not do anything waiting for those stars to align."
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