The Graham-Cassidy Plan: Sweeping Changes In A Compressed Time Frame

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have proposed a new plan for rolling back key provisions of the Affordable Care (ACA). It is possible that the Senate will vote on this plan in the coming days. The plan has many similarities to the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell assembled during June and July and which failed when considered in the Senate by a vote of 43 to 57. The Graham-Cassidy plan is built on the premise that the federal government should remove itself from many of the difficult policy decisions concerning how health insurance is subsidized and regulated. Those decisions would be left to the states. A key provision of the plan replaces the ACA’s premium credits and funding for the Medicaid expansion with a new block grant which would provide substantial flexibility to the states to design entirely different ways of subsidizing and regulating health insurance in the individual market. Graham-Cassidy faces many challenges, not the least of which is the difficulty of passing a coherent plan using the budget reconciliation process. Republicans would repeal the ACA’s individual mandate, but the rules of budget reconciliation (which allow the bill to pass with a simple majority instead of 60 votes) make it difficult to include an adequate replacement for the mandate in their plan. Although an important policy goal for Republicans is to lower premiums in the individual market, Graham-Cassidy, like the...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Medicaid and CHIP ACA repeal and replace Bill Cassidy block grants Lindsey Grahm preexisting conditions state waivers Source Type: blogs