The repeal of the ACA took another hit last week with the newly released “score” of the alternative American Health Care Act, also known as Trumpcare, showing it would cause 23 million Americans to lose coverage by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office said. The AHCA narrowly passed the House earlier this month and has so far gained little, if any, momentum in the U.S. Senate where some Senators are trying to write their own bill.
“Elements of a bill that passed the House this month have divided Republicans,” the New York Times reported Saturday in a story that hinted Senators may be ready instead to begin “overhauling” the tax code rather than pursue health reform.
The inaction in the Senate is frustrating conservative groups who see Republican Senators as too willing to keep certain aspects of the ACA such as essential health benefits and guaranteed coverage for Americans with preexisting conditions. With the GOP in control of both houses of Congress and the White House, conservatives see a now-or-never proposition before them if they are going to pull off a full repeal of the ACA, signed into law in 2010 by President Obama.
“Why is GOP dragging their feet on repeal?” Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom wrote in a headline of a press release last week. “Those resisting repeal and replacement are hanging on to the guaranteed issue mandate, which is the heart of socialized medicine.”
