What’s next for the Affordable Care Act?
(KIMT) – The U.S. Senate has moved forward with the first steps in getting rid of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, with a vote 51-48.
The U.S. House is expected to vote on the issue Friday.
Thee ACA has helped lower the number of uninsured Americans to record low of 9 percent in 2015, but Dr. Charity Baker of Rockwell said that doesn’t mean people are actually getting care.
“On paper, when you see some of the things that were put forth, like you can’t be denied if you have a pre-existing condition, that sounds great. That means everybody could buy an insurance policy,” said Baker. “But the problem is, the rates are so high, even those people, they don’t have $20,000 to come up with a huge HSA [Health Savings Account] deductive plan, so while they cant be denied, they still can’t afford coverage.”
President-elect Donald Trump plans to repeal the act, many people are wondering what’s next, including Iowa’s Governor Terry Branstad.
“I’m very hopeful that the replacement for Obamacare will be better and less costly for Iowans,” said Trump.
“The problem they have is to replace it, it’s going to really take some time. I don’t think they really want to fully repeal it, other than the enabling legislation until they have something in place,” said Political Analyst Bennett Smith.
Smith said in other words, he believes people aren’t going to be losing the insurance they have right now, but the debate will be how quickly they can get a replacement plan together, so no one loses insurance.
“A lot of folks are a little worried that they haven’t seen a replacement plan yet,” said Smith. “That’s going to be tricky, that will take some time in the Congress. President-elect Trump has promised to put a plan forward when he gets in office, so we’ll have to wait and see on that.”