Republican Bill Would Replace Obamacare With the Care Act

Posted by Rick Kolstad on

The Republican bill would eliminate among other tax provisions:

  • The individual insurance mandate; 
  • The PTC, which would be replaced with an age-adjusted, advanceable, refundable tax credit to buy health coverage or health care services. The value of the tax credit would be reduced as an individual's income increased between 200 to 300% of Federal Poverty Level. Only American citizens would qualify for the credit and it would be inflation adjusted. 
  • The dependent coverage up to Age 26 (with transitional provisions); 
  • The Employer responsibility provisions; 
  • The increased hospital insurance (HI) tax for high-earning workers; 
  • The 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax; 
  • The higher threshold for deducting medical expenses;
  • The $2,500 dollar cap on contributions to health FSAs and the ban on over-the-counter Rx reimbursed through FSAs, HRAs and MSAs; 
  • The excise tax on Cadillac policies would be replaced with inflation adjusted caps of $12,000 for individuals and $30,000 for families; 
  • The bill would retain a modified, and more restrictive pre-existing provision that would not provide a pre-existing exclusion for individuals who previously opted out of insurance when they were healthy.

Chances of getting any of these changes past a Presidential veto, while this administration is in place, are slim to none.  But it provides insights of what may come if we have a Republican administration.