House Republicans Unveil Plan to Replace Health Law -<br />By ROBERT PEAR and THOMAS KAPLANMARCH 6, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — House Republicans unveiled on Monday their long-awaited plan to repeal<br />and replace the Affordable Care Act, scrapping the mandate for most Americans to have health insurance in favor of a new system of tax credits to induce people to buy insurance on the open market.<br />Under the House Republican plan, the income-based tax credits provided under the Affordable Care Act would be replaced with credits<br />that would rise with age as older people generally require more health care.<br />House Republican leaders said they would keep three popular provisions in the Affordable Care Act: the prohibition on denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, the ban on lifetime coverage caps<br />and the rule allowing young people to remain on their parents’ health plans until age 26.<br />Republicans hope to undo other major parts of President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, including income-based tax credits<br />that help millions of Americans buy insurance, taxes on people with high incomes and the penalty for people who do not have health coverage.<br />“Today marks an important step toward restoring health care choices and affordability back to the American people.”<br />The release of the legislation is a step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge — repeal and replace —<br />that has animated Republicans since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010.<br />On Monday, four Republican senators — Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — signed a letter saying a House draft<br />that they had reviewed did not adequately protect people in states like theirs that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
