The House Republican Study Committee is offering a “repeal and replace” plan for Obamacare. If we assume that this is purely a marketing document aimed to fulfill the check box that there is a “plan” to “replace” Obamacare that can get 218 votes in the House, then this document aces that evaluation. However, my therapist asked me to try not to be a cynical bastard before my first cup of coffee every morning, so lets evaluate this plan on the following criteria:
- Provides coverage for people with pre-exisiting conditions
- Provides coverage for people who aren’t part of the Republican donor class
- Attempts to bend the cost curve down
- Covers neccessary medical processes
Before we evaluate, let’s go over the major policy planks.
- Repeal all of Obamacare including Medicaid expansion and the three legged stool of subsidies, community rating/guaranteed issue, and mandate.
- Give people a tax deduction of $7,500 for an individual and $20,000 for families
- Significant expansion of HSA tax advantages.
- $25 billion for state run high risk pools with premium support for any premiums that are over twice the state average for insurance.
- Coverage guarantee for pre-exisiting conditions only applies to people who maintain continuous coverage
- Allow insurance companies to sell a single product through a single state regulatory filing
- Allow small groups to pool together for better risk pool pricing.
- Improve pricing transparency
- Stop comparative effectiveness research
- Tort reform to cap damage limits
- Random anti-abortion plank
The short version is MASSIVE FAIL
The long version is below the fold: