GOP on the verge of passing a bill that will phase out Medicaid entirely

Young woman doctor holding a tablet pc (Fotolia)

Senate Republicans are on the verge of passing a new health care bill that, among other things, would phase out Medicaid entirely.

The “Graham-Cassidy” legislation, named for Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidey (R-LA), it s leading proponents, includes several cutbacks to health care spending by the government, most notably cuts to Medicaid, which covers nearly 75 million Americans. By 2027, all of the money that went into the program as part of the Affordable Care Act will be gone, though the cut-backs will occur over time, with caps to Medicaid rising over time.

The phase-out will not happen as quickly for the elderly and disabled, but they will still be affected by the cuts to Medicaid as it is dramatically rolled back.

— Tomi Lahren slams Obamacare, but then admits she benefits from it — 

What’s more, the new health care bill eliminates subsidies that help people to buy insurance on the marketplace. The subsidies will be replaced by smaller block grants to the states, though even that will be gone by 2027.

And on top of that, the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, which requires everyone to have insurance rather than waiting to purchase it until they need it, will be eliminated, a move that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) said will “raise the number of uninsured by 15 million relative to current law in 2018 and increase individual market premiums by 20 percent.”

The law also allows states to remove protections for people with preexisting conditions and potentially allows insurers to raise premiums on people the moment they become sick.

As a result, former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Andy Slavitt predicts that 32 million people will lose health insurance in the next decade if the bill becomes law.