The insurance industry’s top trade group didn’t explicitly call out Republicans’ so-called “skinny repeal” Obamacare plan that the Senate plans to vote on either late Thursday or Friday morning.
But a letter from America’s Health Insurance Plans sent to congressional leaders Thursday did take a not-so-veiled shot at what’s expected to be in the proposal: a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate without a comprehensive replacement, or even a similar continuous coverage requirement.
“With the right solutions, we can help ensure a stronger individual market in 2018 — one that can be improved in the future,” AHIP chief executive Marilyn Tavenner said. “But policies that do not stabilize the market and simply drop incentives for people to buy coverage will repeat what we have seen in the past: premiums will rise rapidly, few or no affordable coverage options will be available, and more people will be uninsured.”
Republicans are arguing that their “skinny repeal” plan is not the final plan, but rather a vehicle to get the legislation into a conference with the House-passed Obamacare replacement bill so that a more comprehensive bill can be put together. However, there are already signs that the House could just pass the Senate’s skinny plan in an up-or-down vote if need be.
Given the AHIP letter, it appears that the insurance industry also sees the possibility that the Senate GOP skinny bill may become law itself.
Read the full AHIP letter below:
