https://www.cato.org/blog/house-gop-leaderships-health-care-bill-obamacare-lite-or-worse

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised legislation that “fully repeals ObamaCare.” Monday night, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives released legislation it claims would repeal and replace ObamaCare. Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Capitol Hill to pressure members of Congress to support the bill. On Wednesday, two House Committees will begin to mark-up the legislation. House and Senate leaders are hoping for quick consideration and a signing ceremony, maybe by May, so they can move on to other things, like tax reform and confirming Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch.

Everyone needs to take a step back. This bill is a train wreck waiting to happen.

The House leadership bill isn’t even a repeal bill. Not by a long shot. It would repeal far less of ObamaCare than the bill Republicans sent to President Obama one year ago. The ObamaCare regulations it retains are already causing insurance markets to collapse. It would allow that collapse to continue, and even accelerate the collapse. Republicans would then own whatever damage ObamaCare causes, such as when the law leaves seriously ill patients with no coverage at all. Congress would have to revisit ObamaCare again and again to address problems they failed to fix the first time around. ObamaCare would consume the rest of Congress’ and President Trump’s agenda. Delaying or dooming other priorities like tax reform, infrastructure spending, and Gorsuch. The fallout could dog Republicans all the way into 2018 and 2020, when it could lead to a Democratic wave election like the one we saw in 2008. Only then, Democrats won’t have ObamaCare on their mind but single-payer.

First, let’s look at how the main features of this bill fall short of repeal.

http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/aca-repeal-bill-reactions/437591/

Dive Brief:

• HHS Secretary Tom Price on Tuesday said the recently released ACA repeal-and-replacement bill – named the American Health Care Act (AHCA) – is a “work in progress,” Reuters reported.
• Reactions from all sides of the industry started to pour in and, depending on what color lenses you’re viewing reactions with, the initial reaction doesn’t look pretty. J. Mario Molina, CEO of the insurer Molina Healthcare was quoted in The Wall Street Journal saying “You’re going to see big rate increases, and you’re going to see insurers exit markets…this is going to destabilize the marketplace.”
• Conservative healthcare analyst Avik Roy used the following headline in Forbes for an opinion piece: “House GOP’s Obamacare Replacement Will Make Coverage Unaffordable For Millions – Otherwise, It’s Great”.

Dive Insight:

The AHCA is getting criticism from all sides and is centered in a big pile of uncertainty regarding varying ACA repeal bills. But when push comes to vote, it will come down to the Republicans to decide whether to go forward with the new repeal-and-replace bill.

So far, the bill hasn’t been taken positively from either side of the aisle. Democrats obviously oppose the legislation but several conservatives have taken shots at the measure as well. Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham released a statement on Tuesday saying, “Many Americans seeking health insurance on the individual market will notice no significant difference between the Affordable Care Act (i.e., Obamacare) and the American Health Care Act.  That is bad politics and, more importantly, bad policy.”

The American Medical Association called the bill “critically flawed.”

“The AMA supported health system reform legislation in 2010 because it was a significant improvement on the status quo at the time; and although it was imperfect, we continue to embrace its primary goal – making high-quality, affordable health coverage accessible to all Americans,” AMA President Dr. Andrew Gurman said. “As drafted, the AHCA would result in millions of Americans losing coverage and benefits. By replacing income-based premium subsidies with age-based tax credits, the AHCA will also make coverage more expensive – if not out of reach – for poor and sick Americans. For these reasons, the AMA cannot support the AHCA as it is currently written.”

Washington Post stating the most lasting impacts of the measure would be steps toward “forcing permanent changes to Medicaid and Medicare.” He added, “If this bill became law, [House Speaker Paul Ryan] would finally be positioned to change Medicare to a voucher program.” AARP EVP Nancy Leamond had similiar concerns with Medicare, writing in a statement the organization opposes the AHCA stating it would “would weaken Medicare, leaving the door open to a voucher program that shifts costs and risks to seniors.”

The American Hospital Association released a letter on Tuesday stating any ability to evaluate the bill is “severely hampered by the lack of coverage estimates by the Congressional Budget Office…[I]t appears that the effort to restructure the Medicaid program will have the effect of making significant reductions in a program that provides services to our most vulnerable populations, and already pays providers significantly less than the cost of providing care.”