Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

The Republicans’ party short-lived.

On Jan. 6, the House of Representatives voted 240 to 181 to dismantle the system, known as “Obamacare” via H.R. 3762, also known as the Reconciliation Act. The Act sought to repeal of large parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

However, President Obama vetoed the repeal of large parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on Jan. 8. The President wrote to the House of Representatives that, “Because of the harm this bill would cause to the health and financial security of millions of Americans, it has earned my veto,” according to a Jan. 8 official press release from the White House. “This legislation would not only repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, but would reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America. The Affordable Care Act includes a set of fairer rules and stronger consumer protections that have made health care coverage more affordable, more attainable, and more patient centered,” the President wrote. 

There are around 150 million Americans who would be adversely affected as they depend on employer’s insurance, according to The White House press release. They would be at risk of getting lower wages while paying higher premiums, the President pointed out.

CMS Wants ACA to Stay

Just as fervently as the House majority wanted the ACA dismantled, CMS wanted it to stay in place as is evident from Human & Health Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell’s Jan. 6 statement on the issue.

“As I travel the country, I consistently hear Americans say that they want Washington to build on the progress we have made to increase access to coverage, drive down the growth of health costs and improve the quality of care,” Burwell said. “Unfortunately, today’s partisan effort in the House of Representatives to repeal key parts of the ACA, along with its effective defunding of Planned Parenthood, does the opposite. It would roll back historic reductions in the uninsured rate, eliminate reforms that are helping slow health care cost growth and improve quality, reduce access to health care for women and families across the country, and deprive all Americans of the ACA’s improved consumer protections no matter where they buy health insurance.”

The bill had attacked core parts of the law, which would have torpedoed an expansion of Medicaid and prevented federal subsidies to help people purchase health insurance was the takeaway from Burwell’s statement.

The takeaway: Given the tight legislative schedule that the Congress has this year, it is unlikely that the Republicans will be able to push amendments to the ACA and get them signed by the President before the elections in November.

To read the complete text of the President’s letter see: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/01/08/veto-message-president-hr-3762.