Cassidy-Sessions' "World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act of 2016"
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The World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act of 2016 was introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) in May 2016 as a plan for replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare. Unlike many other Republican healthcare plans, the World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act would not repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety; the health insurance exchanges would be left in tact. The plan would, however, repeal the individual and employer mandates, two of the primary provisions in the ACA. Individuals could choose to enroll in health plans outside of the exchanges and receive a $2,500 annual tax credit to pay monthly premiums.
Text of plan
Summary
The World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act of 2016, introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would not repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in its entirety, but it would repeal both the requirement for individuals to obtain health insurance and for employers to offer it. It would also repeal the ACA's requirement that insurance plans cover a federally determined set of benefits. The plan would maintain a ban on annual and lifetime limits on coverage, allow adult children to remain on their parents' health plan until age 26, and maintain a ban on denying health coverage to those with preexisting conditions. These elements were all present in the Affordable Care Act. The bill would also allow the health insurance exchanges to remain in place for insurers to sell plans.[1]
In place of the individual mandate, the bill would impose a late enrollment penalty on individuals who have not held continuous health coverage over the previous 12 months. This penalty would come in the form of higher premiums for coverage. States would be allowed to automatically enroll uninsured individuals in a default high-deductible health plan and open a health savings account (HSA) for them; individuals could opt-out of both.[1]
Under the World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act, health insurance plans would no longer be required to offer a standard set of benefits determined by the federal government. While advanced premium tax credits as they were established under the Affordable Care Act would remain, the Worlds Greatest Healthcare Plan Act would also offer a universally-available tax credit to purchase plans off the exchanges or deposit in an HSA. The tax credit would amount to $2,500 per individual per year, with an additional $1,500 per child.[1]
To encourage the use of health savings accounts, the plan would raise the annual cap on contributions from $3,350 to $5,000 for individuals. For family coverage, the cap is multiplied by the number of family members covered by the policy. In addition, individuals would no longer have to be enrolled in a high-deductible health plan in order to qualify for a health savings account.[1]
The World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act would also make some changes to Medicaid. Under the proposal, states may choose to allow individuals enrolled in Medicaid to opt to enroll instead in a private health plan. If the state chooses to allow this option, it must provide the individual with a health savings account and deposit into the account the difference between the $2,500 tax credit and the amount it cost to cover the individual through Medicaid. Such individuals could also claim the full $2,500 universal tax credit from the federal government. The plan would also provide Medicaid funding to states via a per-beneficiary block grant, adjusted for four different categories of enrollees:[1]
- Individuals age 65 and older
- Blind or disabled individuals
- Children under age 21
- Other adults
States could not use federal funding to provide Medicaid coverage for individuals who earn incomes over the poverty line, effectively ending the ACA's Medicaid expansion.[1]
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See also
Footnotes
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