Earlier today, Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate released a revised health care reform bill. The bill modifies the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which was the Senate’s earlier attempt at overturning the Affordable Care Act. See our prior article on the BCRA by clicking here. Senate leaders did not expect to garner enough votes to pass the BCRA as originally drafted, and hope to be able to gather support with the newly revised bill.
The modified bill, still referred to as the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, continues to eliminate the individual mandate to maintain health coverage and the employer mandate to offer health coverage to full-time employees. The individual mandate and employer mandate are nullified by changing the penalties for failing to maintain/offer coverage to $0.
Differences from the prior version of the BCRA include:
- Restoration of ACA’s taxes on higher income individuals, including the tax on net investment income and the Medicare surtax for people who earn more than $200,000 and couples who earn more than $250,000;
- Ability to use health savings accounts to pay insurance premiums;
- Prohibition of coverage for abortion in plans eligible for tax credits, except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother;
- Changes in the calculation of Medicaid payments to hospitals to assist with uncompensated care;
- The opportunity for an insurer to offer skinny plans, along with plans that meet ACA coverage requirements;
- Additional funds to address opioid addition; and
- More funding to help stabilize insurance costs for low income individuals.
It is still unclear if the revised bill will be able to gather enough support for passage. The Senate expects to hold a procedural vote on the measure next week.
