House GOP Releases New Health Care Proposal

Because the insurance industry considers intellectual / developmental disabilities (I/DD) to be pre-existing conditions, ANCOR has been monitoring proposals to reform the U.S. health care system. That is because pre-existing conditions are currently protected under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We are also monitoring health reform proposals because they might include changes to Medicaid, which funds the majority of disability supports in the United States. Last week, Politico Pulse reported on a new House GOP health reform proposal – however, we note that with the Democratic Party in control of the House, the proposal is unlikely to gain traction at this time.

As reported by Politico Pulse:

“House conservatives rolled out a new Obamacare replacement plan on Tuesday, aimed at giving the GOP a concrete alternative to ‘Medicare for All’ heading into 2020. But the new plan developed by the Republican Study Committee is laden with old ideas that the GOP has tried and repeatedly failed to sell to voters – and some of its own members.

The proposal envisions rolling back Obamacare’s regulations and Medicaid expansion in favor of block grants to the states – a concept reminiscent of Republicans’ doomed 2017 repeal-and-replace bills. In another throwback, it calls for creating so-called guaranteed coverage pools, a version of the high-risk pools that predated the ACA — to help those priced out of the private insurance market.

Though the plan includes a series of provisions aimed at protecting people with pre-existing conditions, RSC leaders said key decisions like requiring plans to offer minimum health benefits would be largely left to the states.”