According to the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, the majority of the group would support a health care replacement that eliminates three provisions of the Affordable Care Act that regulate insurers.
The Hill reports that Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) made the declaration after the Freedom Caucus was responsible for the failure of the GOP’s efforts to repeal and replace the ACA last month, saying that the intended replacement bill failed to lower insurance premiums.
This week, however, Vice President Mike Pence made the offer to eliminate three major provisions in the bill: essential health benefits, which mandate what services insurers must cover; community rating, which prevents insurers from charging sick people more for insurance; and guaranteed issue, which compels insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions.
Although pointing out that legislators would have to actually see the text of the bill before making a firm commitment, Meadows is quoted in the report saying, “The majority of the Freedom Caucus would be favorably inclined to vote for that.”
According to the Freedom Caucus, those provisions — some of the most valuable to sick people who need insurance — are the ones that primarily drive up the cost of premiums for the healthy.
Meadows says that in addition to eliminating the three regulations, the bill will also have to have an amendment that creates an invisible high-risk pool for people who have medical conditions requiring expensive treatment that come with high premiums. He adds, “We've got to act to lower premiums. Until I’m convinced that it does that, we won’t vote yes.”
While the Rules Committee is expected to add that amendment — sponsored by Reps. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) and David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) — it’s doubtful that moderate Republicans will support a bill that eliminates those provisions. That could make it tough to get the amended bill passed by the House.
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