American Health Care Act of 2017
Latest action. Returned to the Calendar. Calendar No. 120.
American Health Care Act of 2017
TITLE I--ENERGY AND COMMERCE
Subtitle A--Patient Access to Public Health Programs
(Sec. 101) This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to eliminate funding after FY2018 for the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which provides for investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and restrain the rate of growth in health care costs. Funds that are unobligated at the end of FY2018 are rescinded.
(Sec. 102) The bill amends the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 to increase funding for community health centers.
(Sec. 103) For one year, certain federal funds may not be made available to states for payments to certain family planning providers (e.g., Planned Parenthood Federation of America).
Subtitle B--Medicaid Program Enhancement
(Sec. 111) The bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to limit the state option for a participating-provider hospital to preliminarily determine an individual's Medicaid eligibility for purposes of providing the individual with medical assistance during a presumptive eligibility period. The bill lowers, from 133% to 100% of the official poverty line, the minimum family-income threshold that a state may use to determine the Medicaid eligibility of children between the ages of 6 and 19. In addition, the bill reduces the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid home- and community-based attendant services and supports.
(Sec. 112) Beginning in 2020, the bill eliminates: (1) the enhanced FMAP for Medicaid services furnished to adult enrollees made newly eligible for Medicaid by PPACA; and (2) the expansion of Medicaid, under PPACA, to cover such enrollees. However, a state Medicaid program may continue to provide coverage, with the enhanced FMAP, to such enrollees who were enrolled prior to 2020 and do not subsequently have any break in eligibility exceeding one month.
The bill also eliminates, beginning in 2018, the state option to extend Medicaid coverage to non-elderly adults with incomes above 133% of the official poverty line.
The summary continues for 74 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on May 4, 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 July 28, 2017: Returned to the Calendar. Calendar No. 120.
- 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?
Diane Black (R-TN) introduced it on March 20, 2017. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 March 20, 2017, 3461 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3331 days ago, on July 28, 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