Obamacare repeal reeling after senate defeat
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, faced a significant setback on July 28, 2017, when the Senate failed to pass a bill to repeal and replace it. The bill, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), was a revised version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) that had passed the House of Representatives in May.
The Senate vote was 49-51, with 50 votes needed to pass the bill. Three Republican senators, John McCain (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), joined all 48 Democrats in voting against the bill.
The defeat was a major blow to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, which had made repealing and replacing Obamacare a central promise of their campaign. The failure to pass the bill also left millions of Americans who rely on the ACA for health insurance in a state of uncertainty.
The BCRA would have made significant changes to the ACA, including:
- Repealing the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to have health insurance or face a penalty.
- Reducing the federal budget deficit by $321 billion over 10 years, in part by cutting Medicaid funding and repealing taxes on high-income individuals and corporations.
- Allowing states to opt out of certain ACA provisions, such as essential health benefits and community rating.
- Providing block grants to states to help them manage their Medicaid programs.
The bill was widely criticized by Democrats, who argued that it would have left millions of Americans without health insurance and increased costs for older and sicker individuals. Many Republicans also opposed the bill, citing concerns about its impact on Medicaid and the lack of a replacement plan for the ACA's individual market.
In the aftermath of the defeat, President Trump tweeted that the Senate had "failed" and that he would "let Obamacare implode" rather than work with Democrats to fix the law. However, many experts believe that the ACA is not likely to "implode" and that the law will continue to function, albeit with some challenges.
In the months that followed, the Trump administration took steps to undermine the ACA, including cutting off cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies and expanding short-term health insurance plans. However, these efforts have been met with legal challenges and opposition from many in the healthcare industry.
In 2020, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit to strike down the ACA in its entirety, arguing that the law's individual mandate was unconstitutional. However, in December 2020, a federal appeals court ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional, but that the rest of the law could remain in place.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, which included provisions to strengthen the ACA and increase its affordability. The law also expanded Medicaid eligibility and provided funding to help states establish their own health insurance marketplaces.
Overall, the failure of the BCRA in 2017 marked a significant setback for the Republican Party's efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, and it highlighted the challenges of repealing a major federal law.