Obamacare Replacement Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Health.
Obamacare Replacement Act
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Social Security Act to repeal certain provisions regarding health insurance, including: the requirement for individuals to maintain minimum essential coverage, limitations on insurers varying premiums by age or health status, requirements for health insurance to cover preexisting conditions, and the prohibition on lifetime or annual limits on benefits.
The bill allows a refundable tax credit for a percentage of health insurance premiums and a tax credit for health savings account (HSA) contributions.
The bill eliminates HSA contribution limits and allows all individuals to make contributions to HSAs. HSAs may be used to pay for over-the-counter medications and health insurance. HSA distributions for abortion are subject to income tax.
The tax deduction for medical care is expanded to include exercise equipment and services, nutritional supplements, and certain primary care fees. Physicians may deduct uncompensated and charity care.
The bill provides for the establishment and governance of: (1) independent health pools, which offer health insurance coverage to their members; and (2) association health plans, which are group health plans sponsored by business associations.
Individual health insurance coverage is governed by the laws of a state designated by the health insurance issuer.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must (currently, may) waive Medicaid requirements to enable states to carry out experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects.
Stop-loss insurance obtained by certain health plans or plan sponsors is exempt from requirements for health insurance.
The bill amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to declare that nothing in that Act affects antitrust laws regarding health insurance.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on February 15, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 17, 2017: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mark Sanford (R-SC) introduced it on February 15, 2017, and 7 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 7 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 15, 2017, 3494 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3492 days ago, on February 17, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers