2017-02-24cnbc.com

A draft bill detailing Republican plans to begin repealing and replacing many facets of the Affordable Care Act would provide expanded tax credits and health savings accounts for individuals while reducing federal spending on tax subsidies and Medicaid and practically eliminating both the current employer and individual mandate to provide and carry health insurance.

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What isn't included is a guarantee that people with pre-existing conditions are able to obtain coverage. Members of the House, however, introduced a bill last week to preserve the pre-existing condition ban, signaling that it would have to be passed separately.

The bill dismantles some major components of the ACA, including the expansion of Medicaid and the subsidies to purchase health insurance. In its place, Americans who need assistance to purchase health care will receive a tax credit - able to be received in advanced on a monthly basis - based on age. A person under 30 is eligible for a $2000 tax credit while a person over 60 is eligible for a $4000 credit.

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The measure also also creates state-based high risk pools for people who don't have access to insurance. The federal government would start in 2018 providing $15 billion to help fund the high risk pools, but the number decreases to $10 billion by 2020 and beyond.

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The measure does not directly get rid of the individual and employer mandate to purchase and provide health care, but it zeroes out the penalty, making violation of the mandate non-enforceable.

Republicans, struggling to figure out a way to pay for their health insurance plan, puts in place a tax on the most expensive employer-based health insurance plans, which is an expanded version of the so-called Cadillac tax.

The measure repeals unpopular taxes opposed by the business community and health field, including the medical device tax and the tax on health insurance, also known as the HIT tax, that helped to pay for the ACA.



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