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Please explain. I honestly have no idea how repeal of ACA will affect me.



It's a little difficult to explain without actually knowing about you. And it's true that if you're not American/don't now or ever intend to live in the US, it probably doesn't affect you.


I live in California. I am happy to share some more info.

Edit: I am fine with answers that talk about average Americans. I just want to understand the issue and hear different perspectives.


Generally, it redistributes funding in a way that will disproportionally affect California, resulting in less funding. It results in less funding increases overall over the next few years. It also allows some measure of price discrimination against pre-existing conditions.

It seems to be better thought out than the previous iteration, which is a low bar. Personally I don't think that a focus on health care is a good idea for either party at the moment, but Republican success in repealing the ACA seems likely to be a Pyrrhic victory at best. However, it's far from a certain thing at the moment, and the actions of two or three Senators could change the picture entirely.


Edit: my first response is all too detailed. The broad effect will be that employers aren't encouraged to provide health insurance, and people trying to buy coverage individually may be completely unable to do so because the combination of "no individual mandate" and "no denial for pre-existing conditions" will lead to insurance companies dying and/or premiums being raised astronomically. Or they'll bring back rejections for pre-existing conditions and then if you ever get sick you'll be actually refused insurance after that.

---my original answer:

Here's one example: If the current bill passes, every health insurance plan that offers coverage for elective abortions will stop being eligible for subsidies on December 31. Every plan in California is required to include this coverage, so effectively all subsidies for individually purchased plans in California will end this year. Another: most federal funding to Planned Parenthood will be banned, leading to the closure of almost all their facilities. About 1 million Californians visited Planned Parenthood last year, perhaps you or your partner were among them (more likely if you are lower income). Or perhaps you weren't, but any medical care you needed was better because your doctor wasn't also trying to meet the needs of all those people who did use Planned Parenthood.

Some links which cover these in more detail: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-tax-credits-abort..., https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/03/05/if-feds-strip-planned-p..., http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/09/graham-cassid...




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