Posted by Michael Wonder on 23 Jun 2017
Deep cuts to Medicaid remain the centerpiece of the Republicans’ proposals
22 June 2017 - But the Senate leadership has rewritten other parts of the bill that passed the House.
When the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act in early May, it was widely thought that the Senate would rewrite it. The House’s bill, among its many reforms, would unwind Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, health insurance for the poor. That expansion has given health insurance to 12m Americans. Surely moderate Senate Republicans could not tolerate a reversal?
Yet the Senate bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), revealed on June 22nd after a secretive drafting process (see leader), merely delays the start of the Medicaid cuts by an additional two years, to 2021. In fact, the cuts to the programme would end up being deeper than under the House plan.
