What Will Happen to the ACA with the New Administration in Congress

So much has happened but so little has been accomplished.  I’m not going to talk about opinions I’m just going to present some facts as of today because I have very little brain cells left and I want them to last me till I’m 100 years old.

This republican congress will likely never be able to repeal the ACA entirely.  That’s because in order to repeal a law you need a super majority vote in the senate.  That means 60 votes are needed to vote repeal which they currently do not have and it’s highly unlike for 8 democrats to vote repeal. Unless the republicans can win those 8 seats in this upcoming 2018 midterm elections the ACA is not getting repealed any time soon.

So what’s been going on with all the noise in congress?  What’s up with all the bills and acronyms being thrown around in congress lately. All those bill and acronyms being thrown around are what you call reconciliation bills.  These bills are budget related bills that can pass with a simple majority which they do have in the senate.  These budget reconciliation bills have to originate in the house and they can only make changes that impact federal spending and or revenue. They do have the power to change and shape the law but these bills cannot make it go away all together.  Some of the ACA provisions that could be changed include the individual mandate, employer mandate, exchange subsidies, Medicaid expansion, Cadillac tax.  These provisions all have to do with money. They are either taxes, penalties, or government spending. These are the types of things congress can change with a simple majority votes on a budget reconciliation bill.

Let’s talk about some of the reasons why so many republicans and some democrats want to repeal the ACA.

1. Insurance markets are collapsing.
   1. As of this the date of this blog, CMS has reported there will be 45 counties with no coverage in 2018.
   2. 1/3 counties have only 1 insurer offering exchange plans
   3. 18 out of 23 Co-Ops have failed
2. Premiums and deductibles are increasing
   1. 25% average premium increase for exchange plans across the country.
3. Increase in the underinsured population
   1. Those buying plans with lower premiums have higher deductibles with narrow networks that prohibit access to care
4. $1 trillion in new taxes, mostly falling on the laps of families and job creators.

There are definitely reasons why the ACA needs to be fixed and definitely reasons why it needs to stay.  Here are some of the other republican deeply felt underlying reasons why the ACA needs to be replaced. Federal deregulation – republican legislatures and their voters are really against the idea of big government. They don’t want the federal government to have too much control over their lives.  In fact, they want to give that control back to the states.  The reason here is that the states know their populations the best so they should be the ones making these types of decision for their people.  The ACA has over 45000 pages of rules that need to be followed and some people are concerned that there is just not enough freedom left in the market.  This inhibits innovation.  They also believe that we can drive prices down by allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines which is not really allowed at the moment.  Eliminate the healthcare taxes imposed by the ACA and expand HSA’s.

Expert Insurance Team is here to guide you through the complexities and challenges of the health insurance marketplace.

-EIT