How the Senate can begin to undo the damage of Obamacare in the AHCA

The Senate plans to release a draft of its counterpart to the House-passed American Health Care Act Thursday. The House bill contains a number of sound proposals to begin to reverse the damage Obamacare caused.

These include a major reform of federal Medicaid funding, allowing states to opt out of some onerous Obamacare insurance mandates, repealing the individual and employer mandates, and providing substantial tax relief for the American people by repealing various taxes under Obamacare.

These policies will help reduce premiums and improve the environment that contributed to unaffordable (and now disappearing) health plans. However, the bill falls short of a full repeal and replacement of Obamacare. The Senate should strive to get closer to that goal than the House-passed version as it seeks to undo the damage caused by Obamacare.

There are many areas in which the Senate can do so, but how the forthcoming bill tackles two particular problems created by Obamacare will be especially important to watch. First, Obamacare’s insurance mandates drove up costs and decreased options for millions of Americans. Second, Obamacare made the Medicaid safety net less secure for those in need by expanding it in unsustainable ways well beyond those it was designed to serve.

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