Reconciliation

December 07, 2016

RECONCILIATION

It’s not something that you’re likely to see in Congress any time soon, but it is the process Republicans lawmakers are planning on using to repeal major parts of the Affordable Care Act. Despite the clear success of the ACA (20 million people newly insured, an uninsured rate below 9 percent for the first time ever, and lower-than-expected costs) Trump and Republican congressional leadership remain committed to repealing the law and, reportedly, replacing it with a backpack.

Congressional Republicans' best bet at repealing key pieces of Obamacare is through the budget reconciliation process, which doesn’t require 60 votes in the Senate. But repealing major parts of the law through the reconciliation process would mean no replacement plan, backpack or otherwise, would be included. And repealing the ACA without a replacement plan, as a new Urban Institute study shows, would be disastrous. Here are some key numbers to prove it:

30 million: The number of people who would lose insurance if the ACA is repealed without a replacement plan. That would more than double the number of uninsured Americans and result in a higher uninsured rate than before the ACA was passed. 22.5 million: The number of people who would be uninsured as a result of eliminating key pillars of the ACA including premium tax credits, Medicaid expansion, and the individual mandate. 7.3 million: The number of people who would become uninsured because of the ripple effect that will lead to the near collapse of the individual market. 4 million: The number of uninsured children—more than double the current number of uninsured kids in the U.S. $88 billion: The expected amount of uncompensated or charity care health care providers, including hospitals and doctors, will be forced to give in 2019 alone.