Calling 2017’s failed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act “one of the greatest disappointments to conservative and libertarian activists in history,” conservative groups pushed for another attempt at getting rid of the law with a series of principles they want to see enacted in place of the ACA.
While Republican leaders in Congress have kept ACA repeal off their agenda for 2018 heading into the midterm elections—and the party having lost a vote in the Senate with the election of Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama—these groups want another chance at repealing the law to make Republican voters “more willing to turn out in November.”
“We’ve seen encouraging signs in recent weeks that Congress hasn’t given up on the health care fight—and they shouldn’t,” FreedomWorks president Adam Brandon said in a press release. “Republicans ran in the past four election cycles on their promise to repeal Obamacare—and we’ve outlined how they can make that pledge a reality.”
Some of last year’s repeal efforts, the groups said, would have just “rearranged the law under a Republican vision." Their principles would go further with provisions such as:
· Repealing all of the ACA’s regulations and taxes. This would include the ACA’s mandate for larger employers to offer health insurance and all of the law’s taxes, including the delayed taxes on medical devices and the “Cadillac” tax on generous health plans. The list of principles also included a warning not to focus only on taxes which hit “big businesses” and not replace or repurpose the revenue for other purposes.
· Expanding health savings accounts (HSAs). The group said Republicans should adopt proposals from last year’s repeal efforts regarding HSAs, which included allowing HSA funds to pay for premiums.
· Allowing insurance plans to be sold across state lines. Despite insurers showing little interest in clearing the network adequacy hurdles with selling plans across state borders, conservatives have continued to tout the idea as a way to boost consumer choice. The groups also said it would get around states adopting ACA-like regulations on their own.
· Eliminating Medicaid expansion and block grant its funding. The groups argued expanded Medcaid eligibility has “enrolled far more individuals than originally anticipated,” costing states tens of billions of dollars. Their principles endorsed the idea of turning Medicaid into a state-administered block grant program or instituting a per capita cap of funds as proposed in the Graham-Cassidy ACA repeal bill. Those plans were criticized for ignoring the actual costs of providing care and potentially forcing states to scale back eligibility if they can’t fill funding gaps.
The list of principles also floated another possibility: using a lawsuit filed by 20 states arguing the ACA is now unconstitutional after the elimination of the individual mandate to get rid of the law without going through Congress.
“I am hopeful that President Trump will concede that Obamacare, as amended by the December Tax Reform Bill, is now unconstitutional – thereby jumpstarting Congress to get to work on this issue,” said Ken Cucinelli, president of the Senate Conservatives Fund.
John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.