Winning by a margin of 4 votes only, the House of Republicans passed TrumpCare on 4th May, 2017. This brings us down to the real question and that is: what is it really and how the legislations in TrumpCare plan to change healthcare?
Also known as AHCA (the American Health Care Act), TrumpCare is a term coined to describe healthcare reforms under the President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump. So, does this mean the exit of ObamaCare? Well, not as of yet. The bill still has to be reviewed and passed by the Senate before it is enacted, and before it repeals and replaces ObamaCare entirely.
Let us now take a look at some major reforms that this act proposes and how it aims to change healthcare:
§ Eliminating Individual Mandate
TrumpCare eliminates individual mandate. This means getting coverage is not mandatory and that there is no fee in case you don’t maintain one. It’s your choice whether you want to get healthcare coverage or not.
§ Cost Assistance in the Form of Tax Credits
Under ObamaCare, people received premium subsidies. However, these are set to be replaced in TrumpCare with tax credits. Tax credits will help people pay for their insurance who are either not covered by government programs or employers. Tax credits range from $2,000 to $14,0000 and are based on age instead of income. This will provide relief to those who are stuck with high cost due to income over 400 percent poverty level.
§ Rolls Back Medicaid Expansion
ObamaCare offered funds to states for Medicaid expansion. However, TrumpCare has rolled back this expansion and blocked grants for traditional Medicaid. Whether this decision is good or bad is debatable.
§ Expands HSAs
TrumpCare has also increased HSAs (Health Savings Account) contributions from $3,400 to $6,550 for individuals and $6,750 to $13,100 for families. The idea behind it is to encourage people to put money in savings account with tax-advantages which they can later use to pay for wide range of healthcare costs.
§ Tax Deductions
Under ObamaCare, people could only minus or deduct their medical expenditures if the cost exceeded 10% of household adjusted gross income. In comparison to that, TrumpCare is quite flexible as it allows people to deduct full cost of their healthcare insurance premiums annually from their federal tax returns.
§ Employer Mandate Dismissed
Another significant change that we see under TrumpCare is that it provides large businesses relief as they are no longer required to provide healthcare insurance to full time workers. They can if they want to but it’s not mandatory. In other words, TrumpCare eliminates and dismisses employer mandate under ObamaCare.
Whether these changes are for the better or the worse; can’t be decided as of yet. We’ll have to wait and watch to see its ripple effect once it’s implemented. For more information on TrumpCare, call JS Benefits Group on 877-355-6070.
