Phil Roe's "American Health Care Reform Act of 2017"
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The American Health Care Reform Act was introduced in January 2017 by Representative Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), a member of the Republican Study Committee. The proposal would provide individuals with a standard tax deduction for the purchase of health insurance, rather than the tax credits offered under the Affordable Care Act.[1] The bill would also encourage the use of health savings accounts and change the legal structure for medical malpractice lawsuits by placing a greater burden on patients to prove negligence. The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, would be repealed in its entirety.
Text of plan
Summary
Representative Phil Roe's (R-Tenn.) American Health Care Reform Act would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in its entirety. The bill would also repeal healthcare-related provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which amended the ACA. The plan would maintain a ban on denying coverage for preexisting conditions, although the individual would have to maintain continuous coverage and insurers could charge them higher premiums. The bill also contains a cap on untaxed employer health benefits similar to the Cadillac tax in the ACA: benefits valued above $7,500 per year for individuals and $20,500 (the same amount as the universal tax deduction described below) would be taxed as regular income.[2]
Rather than the advanced premium tax credits of the ACA, the American Health Care Reform Act would provide a standard, universal tax deduction of $7,500 per year for individuals and $20,500 for families.[1] The tax deduction would be adjusted each year for inflation and would be available to anyone with a qualifying health plan. Rather than covering the ten essential benefits included in the ACA, a qualifying health plan under the American Health Care Reform Act would need only cover inpatient and outpatient care, emergency care, physician care, and catastrophic events.[2]
Like other Obamacare replacement plans proposed by Republicans, the American Health Care Reform Act would encourage the use of health savings accounts (HSAs). It would expand the list of approved withdrawals from HSAs to include monthly insurance premiums, exercise equipment, and fitness club membership fees, as well as herbs, vitamins, minerals, homeopathic remedies, and other dietary supplements. While individuals would still need a high-deductible health plan to qualify for an HSA, the bill would increase the annual HSA contribution limit to match the combined amount of the deductible and out-of-pocket limits of the health plan. In 2017, this was $7,850 for an individual and $15,700 for families.[2][3]
Other changes to the health system include the following:[2]
- providing $25 billion over 10 years in grants to states to maintain high-risk pools
- allowing insurance companies to sell health plans across state lines
- allowing small businesses to purchase health coverage for their employees through small business associations
- applying federal antitrust laws to health insurance companies
The American Health Care Reform Act also includes some changes to the legal structure for medical malpractice lawsuits. The law would direct a group of physicians to develop clinical guidelines. Physicians subject to a lawsuit could claim adherence to the clinical guidelines as a defense. The case would then be reviewed by an independent medical review panel, which would determine whether the physician did or did not adhere to the guidelines, and whether any failure to adhere was negligent. The results of the review could be admitted in court as evidence, and if the board found that the physician did adhere to the guidelines, they could not be held liable in a lawsuit "unless the plaintiff is able to show by clear and convincing evidence" that the board erred in judgment.[2]
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tax deductions lower the amount of an individual's taxable income, while tax credits reduce the amount of tax an individual owes.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Congressman Mark Walker, "American Health Care Reform Act of 2017," accessed February 8, 2017
- ↑ Willis Towers Watson, "IRS announces 2017 limits for HSAs and HDHPs," May 11, 2016
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