AMENDMENTS TO AHCA COULD REPEAL EHBs
After postponing a scheduled vote yesterday, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on the American Health Care Act (AHCA). In our original blog post on the AHCA (available here), we pointed out that the bill as originally introduced would not repeal the Essential Health Benefits (EHBs) for health insurance plans sold on the private insurance market, although it would repeal them for Medicaid plans. However, there are reports that an amendment to the AHCA will be offered this morning which would repeal the EHBs altogether. To read more about the development regarding the EHBs, check out the blog post from Tim Jost on Health Affairs by clicking here.
In the statement we released last November after the election entitled “Preserve the Protections Provided by the Affordable Care Act,” we identified the EHBs as one of the eight core principles of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which needed to be protected for people with disabilities. To read our statement, click here. If you want to help our efforts with regards to the EHBs, then check out our action alert which is available on the AAHD website here.
In addition to a possible amendment on the EHBs, the House also put forward some other amendments and many of them are related to Medicaid such as allowing states to add a work requirement for the Medicaid expansion population and allowing states to choose a block grant instead of the per capita cap that was in the original bill (states would still be required to use the per capita cap for seniors and people with disabilities). To read more about these amendments, check out another blog post from Tim Jost on Health Affairs by clicking here. The Congressional Budget Office also scored the AHCA with these proposed amendments in a letter yesterday. That letter can be found here.
The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) also did an analysis of the Medicaid per capita caps under the AHCA and what it would mean for Medicaid. To download a copy of this issue brief, click here.
The Kaiser Family Foundation released a new issue brief which examines what the AHCA’s per capita caps would mean for those Medicaid beneficiaries who are also on Medicare. To read more about the issue brief or to download a copy, check out our news item here.
Previously, we highlighted an interactive tool from the Kaiser Family Foundation which compares tax credits available on a county by county level under the ACA and the AHCA. Recently, they updated the tool to include premiums which individuals would have to pay as well. For this interactive map, click here.
The NIDILRR-funded Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living (CHRIL) is recruiting adults with disabilities to participate in interviews about their experience with getting and using health insurance, including Medicaid or Medicare. Participation is open to adults with disabilities between 18 and 63 years old. There is no limitation to disability type. Participants are particularly needed from racial/ethnic minorities and from the following states: Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Qualified individuals chosen for the study will participate in a 30-60 minute phone interview about their health insurance experiences. Participants who complete the interview will receive a $40 gift card. To get more information and/or to express your interest in participating please click here, call toll-free 1-855-556-6328 or email healthsurvey@ku.edu.
The University of Washington Healthy Aging Rehabilitation Research Training Center (RRTC) has released a fact sheet entitled “How to Do a Lot with a Little: Managing Your Energy.” To download a copy of this fact sheet, click here.
Are you looking for local partners to help with outreach to the disability community? The NDNRC has Community Outreach Collaboratives (COCs) which work to increase collaborations in the community, dissemination and outreach efforts and enrollment of people with disabilities in the ACA marketplace. To find a COC, click here.
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