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Senate Reveals Bill to Replace Health Care Law with Tax Cuts

Jeremy Sprinkle
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Calls to Sen. Burr and Sen. Tillis at 1-888-865-8089 needed urgently

This week, Senate Republicans finally made public their version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which repeals the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. You can find the full text of the Senate bill here. AFL-CIO's Government Affairs team will continue to offer analysis of the bill, but here is what we know now:

  • Millions of Americans will lose their health insurance coverage over the next decade.
  • This loss of coverage for millions of Americans will pay for massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
  • The bill maintains the so-called Cadillac tax, punishing union members who have quality, affordable employer-based health insurance plans.
  • The bill includes an age tax, allowing insurers to charge older Americans as much as five times what they charge younger Americans.
  • The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion will be phased out from 2020 to 2024. Cuts to Medicaid are designed to grow larger every year.
  • In the second decade – beyond what the CBO will score – this bill will gut Medicaid as we know it.

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There is still a great deal of uncertainty about the process, but our best estimate is that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score will be released next Monday, June 26. Senate rules require 20 hours of debate, which will likely occur on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will be followed by a rapid-fire “vote-a-rama” session on amendments to the bill. While Democrats can introduce an unlimited number of amendments to the bill, Republican leadership is able to cut off debate at any time and go to a final vote, likely on Thursday, June 29.

That means it will be up to Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis and other Republicans to put the brakes on this horrible legislation. Here’s what you can do: