I. Policy overview of the Graham/Cassidy Bill Affordable health care, this has been an ongoing issue for the United States for many years. The Graham Cassidy Bill is a revised version of a failed Affordable Care Act repeal bill that could not get the votes needed to pass back in July 2017. The President and the Republican Senators are trying to make good on their campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, official name is Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is a law enacted in 2010. ("Talk:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/Archive 1", 2015) This law was to ensure that all Americans had access to affordable healthcare. The Graham Cassidy Bill, which was designed by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), wants to remove the responsibility of managing the ACA from the Federal government and put it into the hands of each state. The federal government wants to stop funding the ACA directly, instead provide block grants to each state so they can develop their own healthcare systems as they see fit. It would also allow states to waive many ACA regulations, such as the individual mandate that requires most Americans to have health coverage or pay a fine. (Kim Soffen, 2017) …show more content…
These subsidies are based on income, age and geography. These subsidies will be eliminated under the new plan and it would be up to the states to determine if they wanted to use money from their block grant to provide subsidies. Cost-sharing subsidies would also be eliminated. Another way people will be able to cover their healthcare costs is thru a health savings account, which currently Individuals can contribute up to $3,400 and families up to $6,750 to pretax. The new plan will allow people to contribute more, making HSAs more attractive. (Kim Soffen,