http://khn.org/news/khn-on-call-whats-next-for-the-aca/?utm_campaign=KFF-2017-The-Latest&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=43341984&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9_1GvdgggkqzXvKT5fq_mHP4_2YnM-JB9ak6X07OsxNOeRkPvXsuNMM6Ar2K0ZNnRUpliWC_lblb9JzfI-iC7Q5W2WEw&_hsmi=43341984

Health care under the Affordable Care Act is poised to change — again. The Republican-led Congress has vowed to “repeal and replace” the health law known as Obamacare.

That has left many people anxious and confused about what will happen and when. So NPR’s Morning Edition asked listeners to post questions on Twitter and Facebook, and we will be answering some of them here and on the radio in the weeks ahead.

Many of the questions or comments that have come in so far have to do with timing. For example, Steva Stowell-Hardcastle of Lewisburg, Pa., said, “I’m confused about what parts of the ACA have been repealed and when those changes take place.”

First, while some parts of the huge health law have been altered since it passed in 2010, nothing substantive has been repealed in 2017.

Amid Repeal Debate, Public Views Obamacare More Favorably Than Unfavorably

Public Remains Split on Repeal but a Small Share, Including 31% of Republicans, Favor Repeal Without Replace

Large Majorities Want to Continue Federal Funding for Medicaid Expansion; Two Thirds Favor Current Federal Role over Block Grants or Per-Capita Caps

As President Trump and Congress weigh repealing the Affordable Care Act, the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds more Americans viewing the law favorably than unfavorably (48% compared to 42%). This is the highest level of favorability measured in more than 60 Kaiser Health Tracking Polls conducted since 2010.

The shift largely reflects more favorable views among independents, who now are more likely to view the law favorably (50%) than unfavorably (39%). Most Democrats (73%) continue to view the law favorably while most Republicans (74%) view it unfavorably.

In spite of these more favorable views, the public remains divided along partisan lines on whether Congress should (47%) or should not (48%) repeal the law. At the same time, more of those who favor repeal want lawmakers to wait until the details of a replacement plan are known (28% overall) than want Congress to repeal immediately and work out the replacement’s details later (18% overall).

Even among Republicans, while the majority want to see Congress vote to repeal the law – fewer want them to vote to repeal the law immediately (31%) than want them to wait until they have the details of a replacement plan announced (48%), and 16 percent of Republicans do not want the law repealed at all.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/john-boehner-obamacare/index.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=43324818&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9C9fLN0rK4GC4KdmmWnHv-okc_wBb4e7YECRpU-GCF-tFoU9S3NT2PefNssGFFgPB3RIF6OveTi7FGS6p2MSrujC6N4w&_hsmi=43324818

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/john-boehner-obamacare-republicans-235303?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=43324818&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8KtlQSRQZul4ADjabrVQWksL4Jg5gFnXjByDRcBJ3hlWX3L-r4Yp-V6RAex9ClyzM6WsfFxWNGPyeeWd-LFFvLvt0Pag&_hsmi=43324818

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/23/support-for-2010-health-care-law-reaches-new-high/

With congressional Republicans discussing proposals to replace the Affordable Care Act, public support for the 2010 health care law has reached its highest level on record.

Currently, 54% approve of the health care law passed seven years ago by Barack Obama and Congress, while 43% disapprove, according to a national Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 7-12 among 1,503 adults.

Throughout the law’s history, opinions about the Affordable Care Act have tended to be more negative than positive — or, less frequently, divided. As recently as December, about as many approved (48%) as disapproved (47%) of the law.

The new survey finds that when those who disapprove of the law are asked about what should happen to it now, more want GOP congressional leaders to focus their efforts on modifying the law than on getting rid of it. One-in-four adults want Republican leaders to modify the law, while 17% want them to get rid of it entirely. 

As in the past, there are deep partisan divisions over the health care law. Democrats overwhelmingly support the law, with 85% expressing approval. Among independents, about half (53%) approve of the health care law, while 45% disapprove. By contrast, Republicans broadly disapprove of the law (89%); just 10% express approval.

Republicans who disapprove of the health care law are divided on whether GOP congressional leaders should modify the health care law or get rid of it entirely. Nearly equal shares say Republican leaders in Congress should focus their efforts on modifying the law (42%) and focus on getting rid of it entirely (44%).

Among independents, nearly twice as many say Republican leaders should focus on modifying the law rather than scrapping it (29% vs. 15%).

For seven years, few issues have animated conservative voters as much as the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. But with President Barack Obama out of office, the debate over “Obamacare” is becoming less about “Obama” and more about “care” — greatly complicating the issue for Republican lawmakers.

Polling indicates that more Republicans want to make fixes to the law rather than do away with it. President Trump, who remains popular on the right, has mused about a replacement plan that is even more expansive than the original. The conservative news media are focused more on Mr. Trump’s near-daily skirmishes with Democrats and reporters, among others, than on policy issues like health care. And the congressional debate, as well as the paid advertisements on both sides, is centered on the substance of the law rather than its namesake, draining some of its toxicity on the right.

As liberals overwhelm congressional town hall-style meetings and deluge the Capitol phone system with pleas to protect the health law, there is no similar clamor for dismantling it, Mr. Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment. From deeply conservative districts in the South and the West to the more moderate parts of the Northeast, Republicans in Congress say there is significantly less intensity among opponents of the law than when Mr. Obama was in office.

“I hear more concerns than before about ‘You’re going to repeal it, and we’re all going to lose insurance’ because they don’t think we’re going to replace it,” said Representative Mike Simpson, a Republican who represents a conservative district in Idaho.

But it was not until now, with the Republicans taking control of the federal government, that the debate fully shifted from the theoretical to the tangible. It was easy for conservatives to rally against a law identified with a president they despised when he was capable of vetoing any repeal. Now that he is gone and the law’s benefits appear to be on the chopping block, the people who stand to lose the most are the most vocal.

“I’ve heard from constituents who have been harmed by the Affordable Care Act over the course of its being in existence,” said Representative Leonard Lance, Republican of New Jersey, whose affluent district Mr. Trump narrowly lost last year. “More recently, because of our discussions on repairing it, I’ve heard from those who do not wish to have the act amended. More recently, that is the preponderance of those who have contacted me.”

It is a longstanding rule of politics that rallying opposition to a proposal is usually easier than galvanizing support. And never is this more the case than when a widely distributed benefit is at risk of being taken away.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20170218/MAGAZINE/302189962

Divisions sharpened last week between hard-right and more pragmatic Republicans over both policy and strategy for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

Those differences—along with the apparently slow progress in drafting actual legislation that could be scored by the Congressional Budget Office on cost and coverage impact—underscore the tough struggle Republicans face in dismantling Obamacare and establishing an alternative system.

One of their biggest disagreements is over the future of the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid coverage to more than 10 million low-income adults. Conservatives want to eliminate it while a number of GOP senators and governors want to keep that coverage.

Congressional Republicans are feeling growing pressure to show progress on healthcare. Many are going back to their districts this week and holding town hall events, where they may face constituents who are upset about the potential loss of their ACA coverage. In addition, insurers are signaling they may pull out of the individual market in 2018, as Humana announced it would do last week.

House Speaker Paul Ryan promised Thursday to introduce repeal-and-replace legislation when the House returns from recess on Feb. 27, though he’s presented no legislative language so far. He said he’s waiting for the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation to score his proposed bill on costs and coverage levels before it’s unveiled.

Ryan has promised the House will repeal most of the ACA via an expedited budget reconciliation bill passed on a party-line vote by early April. He’s indicated it will include some replacement features, such as expanded health savings accounts and age-based premium tax credits.

GOP leaders want to erase most of the ACA taxes that fund the law’s coverage expansions and replace them with a cap on the tax exclusion employees receive for employer-provided health benefits.

Two people familiar with Ryan’s proposal told the Associated Press that employees would pay taxes on the value of coverage above $12,000 for individuals and $30,000 for families. Republicans would not confirm those amounts. But House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady told reporters that the “vast majority of Americans” would be unaffected. That suggests it wouldn’t raise much revenue.

That proposal is likely to trigger strong opposition from business and labor groups and from many conservative congressional Republicans, who may see it as a new tax.