Reporter
Republicans have introduced a draft on health care to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) set in place by the Obama administration.
President Donald Trump tweeted on March 11, “We are making great progress with health care. ObamaCare [ACA] is imploding and will only get worse. Republicans coming together to get job done!”
The New York Times reported that 20 million people have acquired health insurance under the ACA, and the uninsured rate dropped 10.9 percent from last year.
During President Trump’s campaign, he made promises to replace the ACA.
“Everybody’s got to be covered… I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s got to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now,” Trump told Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes.”
However, the draft dated February 10 that has been leaked leaves out aid that is used to help people purchase health insurance, and it also leaves out federal expansion of Medicaid.
In this newly proposed draft, there isn’t any mention of assurances that people with pre-existing conditions would be able to acquire health coverage.
Sandra Carrillo, a Public Administration graduate student and breast cancer survivor, is worried about health care denial based on pre-existing conditions.
“The new bill omits the part where health insurance is guaranteed to those with preexisting conditions. It’s not fair,” said Carrillo.
“Those people need health insurance the most. Not being guaranteed that insurance companies won’t deny me because of pre-existing conditions worries me. Cancer was supposed to be the hard part, not finding affordable health insurance.”
The newly drafted plan proposes a cap for the number of Medicaid recipients per state.
This means that the current income qualification will not be used to determine Medicaid eligibility.
This can leave many Americans without coverage.
Under the new healthcare bill, tax credits will be given to those who need assistance purchasing health insurance.
The bill also proposes to get rid of individual and employer penalties for not buying or providing healthcare by not enforcing the mandate.
The penalty for businesses or individuals for violating the mandate of having or providing insurance would be zero.
Critics of the GOP healthcare draft are worried that the bill cuts Medicaid and insurance subsidies.
“New GOP plan would leave 24 million more [people] without health insurance,” reads an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“The government’s going to pay for it… it’s going to be a private plan, and people are going to be able to go out and negotiate great plans with lots of different competition with lots of competitors with great companies and they can have their doctors, they can have plans, they can have everything,” Trump said in “60 Minutes.”
Jacky Ortiz, a student of Children, Adolescent and Family Studies, said she’s skeptical about the newly proposed plan.
“I’m worried that my parents won’t have insurance. They receive Medical, and if the new insurance bill passes, there will be caps placed that may take their coverage away. I have insurance through the school and my employer, but I am worried that my employer will choose to not offer insurance to me later.” Ortiz said.
