The Ways and Means and the Energy and Commerce Committees released the American Health Care Act, legislation that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Both Committees have scheduled a markup of their legislation tomorrow morning. The bill was released without a Congressional Budget Office score.
The National Rural Health Association is concerned about Medicaid provisions included in the bill, and that this legislation does not help the rural hospital closure crisis. Eighty rural hospitals have closed since 2010 and currently one third of rural hospitals are vulnerable to closure. Closures of this magnitude will create a massive national crisis in access to emergency services as well as detrimentally harm rural economies.
The laudable goals of the ACA were not fully achieved in rural America. The ACA took critical steps to improve the health of rural populations, who are per capita, older, poorer and sicker than other populations, by both reducing uninsured rates by 8% in rural counties and providing vital health benefits to rural patients. However, the lack of plan competition in rural markets, exorbitant premiums and co-pays, the co-op collapses, lack of Medicaid expansion, and devastating Medicare cuts to rural providers -- all collided to create a healthcare crisis in rural America.
The Energy & Commerce Committee legislation can be found here along with the section-by-section here. The Ways & Means Committee legislation can be found here, the section-by-section, here and the summary, here.