Conservatives want quicker ACA repeal with elimination of Medicaid expansion
With no consensus yet among Republicans on how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the conservative House Freedom Caucus voted among itself to oppose any plan it considers to be weaker than a 2015 attempt to eliminate the law.
That attempt, the first of many Republican repeal attempts to make it out of both chambers of Congress, was crafted with the assumption it would be vetoed by then-President Barack Obama. It would have eliminated many pieces of the law that dealt with federal spending, such as the Medicaid expansion, the individual and employer mandates and subsidies for buying insurance.
“If it’s less than the 2015 [bill], we will oppose it,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, told The Hill.
A similar bill may be difficult for more moderate members of Congress to support now, with studies showing it could cause 32 million people to lose health coverage by 2026 and increase uncompensated care costs at hospitals by $1.1 trillion.
If the caucus holds to its promise to oppose any compromise from the 2015 plan, there may not be enough votes to pass either the repeal or the replacement of the ACA.
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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.