Delaware’s Congressional delegation is among the chorus of lawmakers and interest groups raging against a House Republican alternative to Obamacare.
The proposal released Monday night would scrap premium subsidies for low and middle-income Americans in favor of tax credits tiered to a person’s age.
It would also drop the mandate that people must buy insurance. Instead, those in the individual market could pay up to a 30 percent penalty if they let their coverage lapse.
Popular pieces of the Affordable Care Act remain intact:
· Those with pre-existing conditions won’t be disqualified from coverage
· Kids can stay on their parents’ insurance policy until they’re 26.
· Insurance companies cannot reinstate annual or lifetime spending limits
“This is going to conceivably cost us more and provide less coverage,” said Congresswoman Lisa Blunt-Rochester.
An analysis from rating agency S&P predicts two to four million Americans will drop their coverage partially due to less generous federal subsidies.
Another four to six million are estimated to drop out of Medicaid.
In a series of tweets, Sen. Tom Carper (D) lambasted the proposal, saying it “hurts the most vulnerable Americans among us.”
“For those fighting cancer or living with a chronic disease, such as diabetes, #Trumpcare is completely unaffordable or borderline useless,” Carper said.
“The Affordable Care Act is not perfect, but this is a dangerous proposal that will take our country back to the days when consumers had few protections or financial assistance to access care,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D) in a statement.
Coons notes he’s willing to find ways to improve the law with Republicans, but he won’t support for this proposal.
Many GOP lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus – a faction of the most conservative Republicans – are also blasting the proposal, saying the plan should completely repeal Obamacare instead of modify it.
Another critical component of the bill would tweak the expanded Medicaid federal partnership with 30 states. Current funding will continue until 2020.
After that, only those previously enrolled under the expansion would continue to be covered at the current rate. Federal dollars directed at the expansion would then slim down.
Overall federal funding would also be capped for each enrollee.
Jill Fredel, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Social Services, says it’s too early to estimate what the caps will be.
Right now, more than 11,000 Delawareans are covered by the Medicaid expansion, or about five percent of the 230,000 total enrolled in the program.
Last month during a state budget hearing, health officials say the federal share of the expansion adds up to about $120 million – a potentially costly addition to Delaware’s budget that’s seen anemic revenue growth in recent years and tens of millions of dollars in automatic spending increases annually.
