This week, Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and the GOP Leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives released talking points about ideas for a potential replacement to the Affordable Care Act. To be clear, the House leadership has yet to produce an actual plan, but even the vague concepts introduced suggest that millions of Californians will see health insurance prices spike and lose coverage under their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. We should keep what works and fix what doesn’t, but the Ryan/McCarthy plan would do the opposite.
Health Access will do a more thorough analysis soon, but the initial read through is disturbing: While they promised not to pull the rug out from under anyone, their plan would cut $8 billion from Medi-Cal, imperiling the coverage of the over 4 million Californians who got coverage under the Medi-Cal expansion. The plan would also radically restructure and cap all of Medi-Cal which cares for 14 million Californians–potentially cutting the program by tens of billions of dollars in future years.
The proposal offers no specifics on what financial help people will get to pay for coverage–including the over 1.2 million who now get help through Covered California–but the changes proposed would spike premiums for older Californians while removing affordability assistance for younger Californians, who tend to be lower-income.
Overall, the replacement plan gives a massive tax giveaway to the wealthiest while cutting basic health care for low and moderate income Americans. All Californians should be alarmed by Congress’ rush to repeal coverage–with a plan that would leave many with much higher health costs if not uncovered altogether.
Health Access California released a fact sheet with new numbers, by Congressional district, detailing the enrollment in both the Medi-Cal expansion and for Covered California subsidies.