After the last effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act failed in 2017, and the Supreme Court declined to hear challenges to the law in subsequent years, Congressional Republicans and election candidates are not in the mood to revisit the law in the run-up to the 2022 mid-terms, according to a recent report by NBC News.
According to the news service, none of the GOP candidates running in eight important battleground states are calling for the ACA’s repeal on their websites and it’s rarely mentioned during campaign events and speeches.
In Congress, GOP lawmakers are no longer floating legislation that would repeal the law and states have not been filing new lawsuits to overturn it.
Experts surmise that by this point, the ACA has become ingrained in U.S. society and many who would not normally be able to afford coverage have been able to on government-run health insurance exchanges — thanks to generous government subsidies that have increased substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Also, many people, regardless of their political stripes, have benefited from being able to purchase affordable health insurance on exchanges if they don’t have or lose access to employer-sponsored health insurance.
A number of GOP congressmen and candidates told NBC they were no longer calling for the abolition of the ACA:
“I think it’s probably here to stay.” — Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
“I’m opposed to repealing the Affordable Care Act,” — Joe O’Dea, the Republican candidate facing Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado.
“I don’t think that’s on the table.” — Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.
Additionally, NBC noted that the “Commitment to America” plan floated by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., does not address the ACA or any plans to dismantle it.
Trimming At The Edges
While an outright repeal effort seems unlikely, if the GOP wins control of Congress in the 2022 mid-terms, they could take a whack at addressing deficiencies in the ACA.
“The Affordable Care Act is now embedded in our health care system,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told the Washington Post in April. “There are many improvements that can be made, but I do not foresee Congress repealing it altogether even if [Republicans] take control of Congress.”
Indeed, the GOP had some success in repealing controversial parts of the law when Donald Trump was president and the party controlled both houses of Congress, including:
- Zeroing out the ACA’s Individual Mandate penalty in 2017. This mandate imposed a financial penalty on anyone who failed to secure health insurance coverage either through an employer-sponsored plan or through a government-run health insurance exchange.
- Repealing the Cadillac Tax — a tax that would have been applied to high-cost health plans. The levy would have been paid for by the person who receives the health plan.
- Repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which could have exercised broad authority to cut Medicare spending in ways that would have caused chaos among hospitals, physicians and insurers.
- Eliminating the Medical Device Tax — a hitherto suspended 2.3% excise tax on the price of taxable medical devices.
Divisions remain
That’s not to say that there is agreement on the merits of the ACA.
Here are Republicans’ main complaints about the ACA currently and areas they could conceivable target:
- ACA premiums are too high,
- Networks are too restrictive,
- Cost-sharing (like deductibles, copays and coinsurance) is too burdensome.
- Subsidies are ill conceived and too costly.
Meanwhile, the Democrats have managed to get what they have wanted since the landmark law was enacted: more generous subsidies. Those were introduced as part of legislation in response to the pandemic and were recently extended through 2025 via the Inflation Reduction Act.
Catherine oversees UBF's daily operations and client retention strategy. She has a background in mathematics, economics, and human resources. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, taking the dog on long walks, and caring for a small and unfruitful garden.