Senate Delays Healthcare Vote Until After Recess
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that the Senate will delay the vote on its version of Obamacare repeal until after the July 4 recess.
The Senate released a revised healthcare bill Monday that takes out the individual mandate and replaces it with a penalty for people who go without insurance. If the Senate passes the bill, people who choose to go without insurance for over 63 days will have a six-month waiting period imposed upon them before they can reenroll in the individual insurance market.
The Congressional Budget Office expected that some 22 million people would lose insurance by 2026.
The House bill, passed in early May, was originally expected to leave 24 million people without insurance, but was later amended to 23 million. The Senate’s version, after weeks of debate, is only anticipated to save an additional 1 million of the expected loss in the insurance market.
The revised Senate bill keeps many of the provisions of the June 22 draft.
The new Senate bill, like the original, allows states to end the individual and employer mandates imposed under Obamacare, with the caveat of the imposed six month waiting period.
The revised version continues to include one of the most popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Under the Senate bill, individuals under the age of 26 would be allowed to stay on their parent’s health insurance.
The Senate bill does include tax credits, but the credits are only tied to income levels, like the original version. The credits would allow low-income consumers to obtain insurance coverage, although the plans will include fewer benefits and treatment options. Credits will also only be available to low-income consumers, and the bar will be set lower than it was under Obamacare.
It cuts many of the Obamacare taxes — tax on capital gains, etc. — and suspends the “Cadillac” tax placed on employers through 2025.
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