COLUMBUS – Congress is considering repealing parts of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement, but a new report suggests the lawmakers’ plan would double the number of uninsured people in Ohio and other states.
Republicans are eagerly planning initial votes next month on dismantling the Affordable Care Act, the law known as Obamacare, a cherished goal of the GOP, but research from the Urban Institute shows that in Ohio, more than 960,000 children and adults would lose coverage.
“Ohio has over 95 percent of our children covered, so repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement strategy, it’s not a plan,” said Brandi Slaughter with Voices for Ohio’s Children. “It’s really risky and threatens the health and well-being of children and families in our state.”
Many worry that while Congress tries to replace the health-care reform law, Republicans will face ever-angrier voters, spooked health insurers and the possibility of tumbling over a political cliff. They may delay implementation of their plan for three years to give them and new President Donald Trump time to write legislation constructing a new health care system.
Partial repeal would come through the budget reconciliation process and include elimination of the premium tax credits, Medicaid expansion and the individual mandate.
While Senate Republicans have said rolling back the law would have few impacts on the number of people without health insurance, the Urban Institute report claims that nearly 30 million Americans would lose coverage, and one expert says those who are not just low-income workers.
“Eighty-two percent of those losing coverage would be in working families. The majority of those are non-Hispanic whites and 80 percent of the adults becoming uninsured would not have college degrees,” said Alker of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
Alker says the responsibility for responding to the loss of coverage would fall to the states lap and she predicts “huge gaps in our health-care safety net.”