On Friday, a first draft to repeal the Affordable Care Act by Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and the GOP Leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives was leaked, showing it goes a lot further to undermine the health care for Californians than suggested, especially in capping Medicaid and taxing employer-based coverage.
Under the leaked House leadership’s proposal, millions of Californians in public and private coverage will lose their care. The plan goes beyond repealing the Affordable Care Act and the coverage for five million Californians by also undermines employer-based coverage (which covers 18 million Californians) and Medi-Cal (covering 14 million Californians), the two main ways Californians get insured.
If we should keep what works and fix what doesn’t, the Ryan/McCarthy plan would do the opposite. While they promised not to pull the rug out from under anyone, this plan would cut at least $8 billion from Medi-Cal in 2020, and tens of billions more in the future, imperiling the coverage of the over 14 million Californians who depend on the program.
The plan also taxes and discourages employer-based coverage that working families depend on, which has already been eroding over the last several decades. particularly in California.
Overall, the replacement plan gives a massive tax giveaway to the wealthiest while cutting basic health care for low and moderate income working Americans. We’ll put out more details and analysis over the next week, but at first glance, all Californians should be alarmed by Congress’ rush to repeal coverage with a plan that would leave millions with much higher health costs if not uncovered altogether.