Since March 2010 when it was first signed into law, Obamacare was poised to benefit several million Americans, and went by the name Affordable Care Act (ACA). It took around six years to build the health care business around this act, with an estimated budget easily going above $3 trillion. Trumpcare looks to replace the existing plan or make certain modifications to the existing plan. Several popular legal provisions are also expected to be preserved, including those which are related to insurance and parent health plans.
Trumpcare, or 2017 healthcare reform, will have seven prime policy facets, which have been highlighted already by the President-elect himself. These include:
- Fully Repeal Affordable Care Act: Under this, the pre-existing condition clause will continue as it is. The GOP too believes that no American should be denied healthcare because of demography or pre-existing medical conditions. This will also reduce Medicare spending and will remove the mandatory purchase of health insurance.
- Use of Health Savings Account: Health Savings Accounts (HSA) will have an expanded scope going forward, allowing everyone to use HSAs where their contributions will not only be free from any tax liabilities, but will also continue to accumulate over time. These will also be available for forwarding to the heirs without accruing any penalty on them.
- Premiums will become tax deductible: The new plan will enable people to deduct their premiums in full from their tax returns, while also facilitating an open market for companies to provide insurance coverage. This will give people an incentive to pay for insurance cover while they are healthy, and not making it mandatory by all means.
- Medicaid funding through block-grants: Under this plan, the Federal government will give a fixed amount of money to states for helping them fund their own programs. This will eliminate the need for any federal overhead, giving states the sole authority to manage their programs on their own.
- Health Insurance Plans to become available through states: This rule implies that any vendor who complies with the predetermined state guidelines will be able to sell his plan in that state. This will create a competitive environment, and will bring down insurance cost, while boosting customer satisfaction in more ways than one.
- Improved Transparency: With increased competition, there will also be greater transparency from all healthcare providers. This will help people be aware of the best prices for all treatments, including procedures, tests, diagnosis, and more.
- No more barriers for drug providers towards free markets: The program will give taxpayers an opportunity to put their money in a specific fund solely meant to facilitate their health coverage. Once the competitive market is established, the premium costs is certain to go down.
For more on the 2017 healthcare reform and the changes to healthcare insurance that will come into effect in 2017, join Rob J. Thurston in an online webinar. This event, titled ‘Understanding Health Care Reform and “TrumpCare” with the new Administration’, will include discussions on the history of ACA, TrumpCare, the Cadillac Tax, 1094 and other forms filing, which cost containment strategies might work, which systems are effective, and how to achieve a return on investment.
