Health policy experts immediately warned that the desperate new plan Republicans developed for repealing the Affordable Care Act – which the American people overwhelmingly support keeping and improving on a bipartisan basis – would strip health coverage from millions, force premium costs to skyrocket, and cause insurance markets to collapse.
“Republicans have falsely howled about markets ‘collapsing’ under the ACA, but now we know where they really stand. When it comes to the ability of insurance markets to serve the American people, this last-minute Trojan Horse ploy is like intentionally putting poison in a patient’s IV. This cowardly approach would take health coverage from millions and make premiums spike as it roiled markets and eventually sank them, leaving the American healthcare system in chaos,” said American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates.
Jacob Leibenluft, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – 7/25/2017: “Best way to think of this: as a Trojan horse. It’s a (harmful) vehicle to get to a bill just as bad as the AHCA, BCRA, etc.”
Larry Levitt, Kaiser Family Foundation – 7/25/2017: “CBO on repealing the individual mandate (‘skinny repeal’): 20% premium spike and 15 million uninsured increase.”
Sarah Kilff, Vox – 7/25/2017: “‘Skinny repeal’ would be an excellent way to torpedo the individual market. Insurers would flee w/o mandate.”
Matt O’Brien, Washington Post Wonkblog – 7/25/2017: “If this ‘skinny’ repeal ended up becoming law, it’s hard to see how it wouldn’t destroy every individual insurance market “
The Hill, 7/25/2017: “Experts warn, though, that repealing the individual mandate without any replacement measures would destabilize the insurance market and spike premiums.”
Vox, 7/25/2017: “…repealing the individual mandate risks sending Obamacare’s insurance markets into a death spiral. Health insurers have long said that a compulsion for people to buy insurance is necessary in order for the law to work, after it required that insurers cover everyone and charge everyone the same premiums no matter their health.”
New York Times, 7/25/2017: “Nobody expects that bill to become law. Instead, it would essentially serve as the vehicle for the Senate’s legislation. The House bill’s text would be swapped out for the Senate’s preferred language, whatever that ultimately is.”
Washington Times, 7/25/2017: Scrapping key parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act without other reforms will unnerve insurers, since they would still have to accept sicker customers without the mandate designed to prod healthier people into the marketplace by forcing them to get insured or pay a tax.
Published: Jul 25, 2017