Trump’s New Health Care Plan to Replace Obamacare

American Health Care Act

Paul Ryan defends Trumpcare (photo courtesy of Google)

Paul Ryan defends Trumpcare (photo courtesy of Google)

Wayne Chan, Photojournalist

During his presidential campaign President Trump promised a new health care plan to his constituents. Trump declared that under his presidency he would deliver “insurance for everybody.” Currently in office, he has proposed a new plan to replace Obamacare.

At first, Paul Ryan, speaker of the house, tried to rally the largely GOP controlled Congress to unite behind the new health care act. However, some lawmakers were discontent with it. Some critics said that it wasn’t republican enough and was too similar to the Affordable Healthcare Act, Obamacare, dubbing it the “Obamacare Lite.” Others said it would cause millions to lose insurance coverage.

Then the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan organization, came out with their report on this new healthcare plan. Their studies estimated that under the ‘Trumpcare’, or American Health Care Act, approximately 52 million people would be left without healthcare coverage by 2026 as compared to obamacare which would have left approximately 28 million without coverage. According to the Business Insider, the federal budget deficit would shrink by upwards of 300 billion dollars over the next decade.

According to the Washington Post, in this new healthcare plan, the individual mandate of having health insurance would not be enforced, but instead citizens would be encouraged to have health coverage with a thirty percent surcharge on premiums. Large companies would also be relinquished of the legal obligation to offer affordable coverage for their employees. In the old Obamacare, insurers could only charge people of advanced age up to 3 times more than younger people, while under the new Trumpcare, insurance providers could charge up to 5 times more than what they charge for younger generations. Over the next ten years state would receive money tantamount to 100 billion dollars through a new Patient and State Stability Fund for people with costly medical conditions. The planned parenthood coverage under the old obamacare no longer exists. Planned parenthood funding would be frozen for a year. The healthcare plan also includes a cap for Medicaid. Medicaid is the program that helps cover lower income people as well as people with disabilities.

In order to rally the support of the public, the rest of the GOP, and lawmakers for this new GOP healthcare plan, President Trump plans to travel across the country and to employ the full power of the office.