Insured Through Your Job? Medicaid? The ACA? Here's What Could Change
Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 6:31 am
Consumer Reports - 3/10/2017 - Donna Rosato - The GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act is likely to affect you no matter how you get health insurance now. The House Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has passed through two key committees, though it's still unclear whether it will have the same success in the full House and Senate. And it’s still unknown how much the new plan—called the American Health Care Act—might cost, or how many people it might insure. That’s because, contrary to usual practice, GOP leaders moved the legislation forward without first getting estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. But it is clear that if the new plan does become law of the land, it will change insurance for just about everyone. Exactly how, though, depends on whether you get insurance from your job, through Medicaid, or if you buy a plan on your own. Even people on Medicare may see some changes. Although many people are likely to get far less financial help to foot the cost of insurance, others will receive more generous tax breaks than they would have under the ACA, says Timothy Jost, a health policy expert and emeritus professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Va. Many consumers tell us they are worried. In a recent nationally representative CR Consumer Voices Survey, 55 percent of consumers said they are not sure they or their loved ones will be able to afford insurance to secure quality healthcare. Based on the legislation as it stands, here’s how you could be affected: Read more @ http://www.consumerreports.org/healthca ... d-the-aca/