How would repealing Obamacare work?
By Alex Bregman
In a new interview, President-elect Donald Trump promised that his replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, will include “insurance for everybody.” Meanwhile, Republicans in both the House and the Senate have passed budget resolutions that set into motion a repeal of one of President Obama’s signature programs. Those congressional Republicans, however, have not revealed how and when they might replace the bill.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed the law is more popular than it’s ever been, and a new study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that repealing parts of Obamacare might increase the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million and double their health care premiums over the next 10 years.
What is a repeal and replacement of Obamacare likely to look like? Many Republicans, including Trump, have said the more popular parts of the bill will stay: Insurance companies cannot deny coverage if you have a preexisting condition, and if you’re under the age of 26 you can stay on your parents’ plan.
Republicans, however, are likely to do away with the current mandate to have health insurance and tax penalties if you do not. That could be at odds with Trump’s latest comments about insuring everyone. He has said he wants the repeal and replacement to happen on the same day, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence has also said Trump will likely take executive actions affecting Obamacare. Despite that, Republicans have admitted that this all could take years to go into effect.
