House Republicans Unveil Plan to Replace Health Law -
By ROBERT PEAR and THOMAS KAPLANMARCH 6, 2017
WASHINGTON — House Republicans unveiled on Monday their long-awaited plan to repeal
and replace the Affordable Care Act, scrapping the mandate for most Americans to have health insurance in favor of a new system of tax credits to induce people to buy insurance on the open market.
Under the House Republican plan, the income-based tax credits provided under the Affordable Care Act would be replaced with credits
that would rise with age as older people generally require more health care.
House Republican leaders said they would keep three popular provisions in the Affordable Care Act: the prohibition on denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, the ban on lifetime coverage caps
and the rule allowing young people to remain on their parents’ health plans until age 26.
Republicans hope to undo other major parts of President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, including income-based tax credits
that help millions of Americans buy insurance, taxes on people with high incomes and the penalty for people who do not have health coverage.
“Today marks an important step toward restoring health care choices and affordability back to the American people.”
The release of the legislation is a step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge — repeal and replace —
that has animated Republicans since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010.
On Monday, four Republican senators — Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — signed a letter saying a House draft
that they had reviewed did not adequately protect people in states like theirs that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
