Hasty actions by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are casting a pall of uncertainty over health care for many millions of Americans.
With little debate and no information about costs, House Speaker Paul Ryan is rushing the American Health Care Act (AHCA) toward early passage. Strong opposition, voiced immediately by health-care providers that include the American Medical Association, the American Osteopathic Association, professional organizations representing family physicians, pediatricians, obstetrician-gynecologists, internists and the American Hospital Association, has been ignored. Opposition from many individuals and patient-advocacy groups has fallen on deaf ears.
Dr. Clif Cleveland
Speaker Ryan and his House allies have two goals: immediate repeal of many provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) and rapid replacement with a plan of unexamined impact upon the health care of Americans.
Kaiser Family Foundation (wwe.kff.org) offers a useful, succinct comparison of ACA and AHCA.
House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees approved AHCA within days of its proposal without hearings or data regarding costs from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which traditionally analyzes the financial impact of legislation before debate begins.