Tea Party hardliners, AMA strongly oppose GOP’s Obamacare replacement plan

Republican legislation that looks to dismantle and replace Obamacare is facing serious opposition from many angles, including from hardline conservatives and the American Medical Association.

Republican U.S. House of Representatives leaders yesterday released their new legislation, titled the “World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017,” which looks to eliminate Obama’s Affordable Care Act, including the medical device tax.

The plan would also eliminate more than $500 billion in federal revenue, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. The committee estimated that a delay of the “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans, set to go into effect in 2020 and delayed to 2025, would cost an estimated $48.7 billion in tax revenue.

A repeal of the 2.3% medical device tax would cost $19.6 billion over 10 years, the committee said. In addition, repealing the tax on brand pharmaceutical companies would cost $24.8 billion, repealing the health-insurance tax would cost an additional $144.7 billion. Repeal of the 10% indoor tanning service would cost $600 million.

The plan would also eliminate Medicaid expansions after 2020, including those in several Republican states, and would allow insurers to mark up premiums by 30% on individuals who experience a lap in coverage of 2 months or more. The legislation also includes a provision which would allow insurers to charge older individuals up to 5 times more than young people.

The plan has met with backlash from conservatives, including Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, who called the deal “exactly the type of back-room dealing and rushed process that we criticized Democrats for.”

Conservative groups also opposed the new plan, including Heritage Action for America, the Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners. The Club for Growth described the plan as “RyanCare” and a “warmed-over substitute for government-run healthcare.”

Conservative Republican Rep. Jim Jordan expressed opposition to the new plan, urging for a full repeal of Obamacare. Jordan said he had plans to introduce his own bill to repeal the ACA today.

While US House Speaker Paul Ryan said he believes there exists enough support to pass the bill, while others, such as Senator Roy Blunt, seem to doubt the bill’s ability to clear both the House and Senate.

“I’m going to be very anxious to hear how we get 51 votes and how the House gets 218,” Blunt told reporters.

The American Medical Association also came out against the bill, calling it “Critically Flawed”.

In a letter to congress, the AMA said it outlined provisions in the new bill that would have an adverse impact on patients and the health of the nation, which would be caused due to a large decline in health insurance coverage.

“The AMA supported health system reform legislation in 2010 because it was a significant improvement on the status quo at the time; and although it was imperfect, we continue to embrace its primary goal — making high-quality, affordable health coverage accessible to all Americans. As drafted, the AHCA would result in millions of Americans losing coverage and benefits. By replacing income-based premium subsidies with age-based tax credits, the AHCA will also make coverage more expensive — if not out of reach — for poor and sick Americans. For these reasons, the AMA cannot support the AHCA as it is currently written,” AMA President Dr. Andrew Gurman said in a press release.

In its letter, the AMA said it supported advanceable, refundable tax credits sufficient to cover quality coverage that aren’t tied to age – as the new plan would lay out. The association posed concern at the rollback of Medicaid expansions, and said it could not support provisions that would repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund, as well as those that would target Planned Parenthood.

“As you consider this legislation over the coming days and weeks, we hope that you will keep upmost in your mind the potentially life altering impact your decisions will have on millions of Americans who may see their public, individual or even employer-provided health care coverage changed or eliminated. We encourage you to ensure that low and moderate income Americans will be able to secure affordable and adequate coverage and that Medicaid, CHIP, and other safety net programs are maintained and adequately funded. And critically, we urge you to do all that is possible to ensure that those who are currently covered do not become uninsured,” the group wrote in its letter.

Material from Reuters was used in this report

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