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What Trump might really do with health care

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

The HealthCare.gov 2017 web site home page is seen on a laptop in Washington. President-elect Donald Trump has said he may keep some parts of his predecessor’s signature health care overhaul. No final decisions have been made.

WASHINGTON >> President-elect Donald Trump has said he may keep some parts of his predecessor’s signature health care overhaul. No final decisions have been made. Based on interviews with congressional Republicans, here’s a general idea of what goes, what may stay, and what’s in doubt:

WHAT GOES

-Mandates on individuals to get coverage or risk fines from the IRS.

-Mandates on employers to cover workers.

-All or most of the Affordable Care Act’s tax increases on upper-income individuals and the health care industry.

-Limits on what insurers can charge older customers. Leading Republicans want to loosen them.

WHAT STAYS

– Letting young adults stay on parental health plans until they turn 26.

– A ban on lifetime dollar limits for insurance coverage.

– Some kind of system to protect people with health problems from being denied coverage. The new approach may include a requirement that people maintain “continuous” coverage, which has yet to be legally defined. The government would also fund “high risk” insurance pools for patients who fall through the cracks.

– Tax credits or tax deductions to help people pay their premiums. The form and level of that assistance is unclear.

WHAT’S IN DOUBT

-The Medicaid expansion in President Barack Obama’s law, which has provided coverage to an estimated 9 million low-income people. A number of Republican governors have accepted it, and more may want to do so now that the law will no longer be so closely associated with Obama. Most prominent among the GOP governors expanding Medicaid: Mike Pence. Medicaid expansion is a key piece of the puzzle.

– Current rules that require women employees of religious-affiliated institutions such as colleges, hospitals and charities, to be offered coverage for contraceptives as a free preventive health benefit. The Trump administration could move to rescind those rules on its own with congressional approval.

– The future of online insurance markets like HealthCare.gov, which serve people who don’t have access to job-based coverage.

-Some kind of new limit on the tax-free status of employer-provided health insurance, applying to the most generous plans. It would replace the health care law’s widely opposed “Cadillac Tax.”

15 responses to “What Trump might really do with health care”

  1. Sandybeach says:

    Failed promises and a scam artist in the White House. Where’s the wall going and when does deportation illegals begin. Clueless in DC.

  2. Kahu Matu says:

    Very sensible changes to a debacle of legislation. Trump is already showing his worth in making America Great Again.

  3. wrightj says:

    Put all of this into a meat grinder then we might understand it.

  4. Crackers says:

    Just dump the entire OBAMACARE law, scrap it 100% completely and start over. Any law that is thousands of pages in length is unenforceable and too complicated. Dump every last word of that law and start over from scratch.

    • Readitnow says:

      Hey … you’re getting crackers in the bed. Almost every law is a huge document. Obamacare is a massive change that was never intended to be a final plan. A plan had to be put in … and we make changes constantly to move it close to perfect. But, it will never be perfect. That’s why we have amendments. Amen.

    • wkama says:

      Why isn’t he doing that? Now he says he wants to keep part of it. C’mob demand that he repeal the whole thing that he promised to do? If he doesn’t he’s a liar. Goes to show he didn’t have any health care planned.

  5. Cricket_Amos says:

    How about no longer forcing nuns to fund abortions?

  6. MamaKin says:

    How about letting the doctors who provide health care, provide the rules and make the decisions based on the oath they took.

  7. kuroiwaj says:

    President-Elect Trump will implement his Contract with the American voters within his first 100 days by: “TWENTYFORTH, Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications;” This will be done with the support from Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell.

    • wkama says:

      Looks like he’s beginning to crack as far as completely repealing Obama Care like he promised he would.

      • kuroiwaj says:

        IRT Wkama, it’s all speculation as of now. No one has seen any document in writing what the proposal is. We do have President-Elect 29 issues with his contract with the American Voters that will be implemented in his first 100 days as President. He has not even been sworn in as of yet. It happens on January 20, 2017.

  8. CEI says:

    What Trump might really do with health care. I give up. Fix the mess that little Barry Hussein made?

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