Bye Bye Bye? The House votes to repeal and replace Obamacare

On Thursday, House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace its key parts. After having fought for this for months, the bill now will go to the Senate and Trump feels confident about it.

The bill passed with a vote of 217-213, with all 192 Democrats voting to oppose it and 20 Republicans joining them. The changes made by the GOP Proposal would alter some major factors that Obamacare had established.

 

Essential health benefits such as emergency room visits and women’s health services would not be a given, instead it would up to single states to choose what benefits to keep or whether to opt out of all of them.

Older people would have to pay up to five times more than younger consumers for fewer benefits. The new American Health Care Act repeals the Employer Mandate, which required all businesses with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance.

Pre-existing conditions have been a big debate also thanks to Jimmy Kimmel’s speech about his newborn’s heart surgery. With Obama backing him up, but also with conservatives criticizing his approach and ideas.

Donald Trump has reassured that insurance for people with illnesses such as cancer or diabetes will be reduced. Earlier this week the President stated that this new healthcare plan “will be every bit as good on pre-existing conditions as Obamacare”. The Republican Plan maintains the requirement that allows people under 26 to be covered by their parents’ insurance.

Since Obamacare became effective in 2010, it reduced the number of uninsured people by 20 million, with patients less likely to skip needed care. Given these premises it would have been difficult to introduce any new health care plan, let alone one with these conditions.

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