GOP looks for alternative way to repeal Affordable Care Act

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Republican foes of President Barack Obama’s health care law may be able to get more by chipping away at it than trying to take the whole thing down at once.

That’s one lesson of the budget deal passed by Congress and signed by the president last week.

It delayed a widely criticized tax on high-cost employer health insurance plans that hasn’t taken effect yet. And it temporarily suspended two taxes on industry already being collected, which also are part of the health law.

In contrast to frontal attacks on “Obamacare” that repeatedly have failed, this tactic could well succeed. Delays and suspensions have a way of becoming permanent.

Polls show that the public remains deeply divided over the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. Opponents already are looking for other provisions that could be separated from the law.

Next could be the “employer mandate,” a requirement that larger companies offer coverage or risk fines. Part of the mandate is a controversial definition of a full-time worker as someone who averages 30 hours a week. Critics say it discourages companies from hiring full-time employees.

“Maybe Republicans have come to grips with the idea that the basic structure of the ACA has been in place long enough that simple repeal is not possible,” said economist Joe Antos of the American Enterprise Institute, a business-oriented think tank. Perhaps the budget deal “is practice” for more changes, he added.

Supporters of the health care law are trying to downplay the consequences of the budget deal as superficial dings. It did not touch coverage provisions that have reduced the nation’s uninsured rate to a historic low of 9 percent. Indeed, Obama himself announced that 6 million people already have signed up for 2016 coverage, with more than a month left in open-enrollment season.

The step-by-step approach has led to other health law changes. Among them:

Repealing a long-term care insurance program that was financially questionable.

Blocking a change in the definition of “small employer” after businesses argued it would raise premiums.

Changing an income formula for determining who can get Medicaid. Originally, Social Security benefits would not have counted, meaning that some middle-class early retirees could have qualified for nearly free care meant for the poor.

Limiting the administration’s ability to compensate insurers that signed up sicker-than-expected customers.