JDSUPRA by Allison Kassir King & Spalding 4/5/2017
Following a week of amendments and last-minute deal making, and after postponing a scheduled March 23 vote, the House leadership cancelled a vote on H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) noted: “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.”
At the outset of last week, the House Republican leadership outlined, and the House Rules Committee approved, a rule incorporating a “manager’s amendment” to H.R. 1628, as forwarded by the House Budget Committee on March 16 (see committee report here). This “manager’s amendment” was intended to address concerns of conservative Republicans aligned with the House Freedom Caucus as well as moderate Republicans. These changes to the original AHCA included provisions to:
Terminate the ACA Medicaid expansion for childless, non-disabled, non-elderly, non-pregnant adults up to 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and sunset the ability of States to cover adults above 133 percent FPL at the end of 2017.
Allow States to impose a work requirement as a condition of Medicaid coverage for non-disabled, non-elderly, non-pregnant adults.
Allow States to opt for a block grant rather than per-capita cap to fund traditional, non-expansion adult and children. (Block grants would not be available for the elderly and disabled.)
Modify the Medicaid matching formula for New York, prohibiting Federal reimbursements for Medicaid funds collected by counties.
Move implementation of the “Cadillac Tax” from 2025 to 2026, and accelerate repeal of all other ACA taxes from 2018 to 2017.
Attempt to add additional funding for Americans aged 50-64 and provide additional funding for the Patient and State Stability Fund.
More:
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/house-pulls-vote-on-aca-repeal-and-61896/