GOP Senators Draft Alternative Obamacare Replacement

Shortly before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) released a revised healthcare bill on Thursday, two other Republican senators released an alternative plan they hope to bring up for a vote if the leader’s plan fails to attract the needed votes.

The proposal put forward by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) would send much of the funding that the federal government currently spends implementing to states. Here’s what their plan would do:

• Existing federal funding for Obamacare — an estimated $110 billion in 2016 — would be block-granted to states, which could then use the money on tax credits, subsidies, health savings account premiums, and other healthcare spending as they see fit.

• Obamacare’s individual mandate and employer mandate would be repealed under Senate reconciliation rules that only require 50 votes.

• The Obamacare medical device tax would be repealed, but other taxes would remain in place.

• Obamacare requirements covering pre-existing conditions would stay in effect.

• Federal Medicaid funding to states would continue to grow in a sustainable manner, adjusted for inflation, while states would have more flexibility in spending that money to provide the most effective and efficient coverage based on their populations’ needs.

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— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Glenn Fawcett.jpg) / Public Domain)