Older Americans are more likely to need more healthcare than their younger counterparts just by dint of their age. Poor, older Americans need that care to be affordable.
The two bills floated in the Republican-controlled House to replace the ACA also known as Obamacare seem to be putting this demographic in jeopardy as far as gaining affordable, health insurance is concerned.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is expected to release its scoring on the Obamacare replace effort Monday, but the AARP has already weighed in with the above conclusion. [Update: Late Monday, CBO scored the Obamacare replace effort and it didn’t looking pretty with 24 million forecast to lose coverage in a decade.]
In a report published Friday, the lobby group said:
“The tax credit proposal included in the American Health Care Act (AHCA) of 2017, as introduced on March 6, would provide substantially less assistance for lower- and moderate-income older adults by as much as $5,900 for an individual.”
And how many such older Americans of limited means are covered by the current healthcare law? More than 3 million, according to AARP.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The group’s Public Policy Institute crunched some numbers to come up with these data points, per the report:
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50- to 64-year-olds earning $15,000 annually would be eligible for tax credits that are on average 40 to 60 percent less than the amount they would receive under current law. In dollars, their tax credit would be between $2,200 and $5,900 less under the AHCA.
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50- to 64-year-olds earning $25,000 annually would be eligible for tax credits that are on average 50 to 80 percent less than the amount they would receive under current law. In dollars, their tax credits would be between $850 and $4,500 less under the legislation.
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50- to 64-year-olds earning $45,000 annually would see mixed impact. For example, 50-year-olds and 55-year-olds would be eligible for a larger tax credit. Sixty- and 64-year-olds would be eligible for a smaller tax credit. In dollars, their tax credits would range from $1,800 more to $1,800 less under the legislation.
AARP’s analysis also calls into doubt the success of flat tax credits based on age that are proposed in the two House bills aimed at replacing Obamacare.
So, only 50-year-olds earning $45,000 annually appear to be coming out on top using the flat tax credit based on age that’s proposed in the GOP-healthcare bills, including the American Healthcare Act (AHCA).
The report noted: “Under a flat tax credit proposal such as the AHCA, people would face a much larger reduction in tax credits compared with current law as they grew older, even with the adjustment for age called for in the legislation. This raises significant affordability concerns, particularly because premiums already increase with age in the nongroup market and would increase even more under current proposals.”
But AARP maybe the least of GOP’s worries. The reaction from moderate Republicans, who worry about the fate of poor, older Americans and conservative Republicans who complain that AHCA is Obamacare Lite shows that the healthcare battle maybe one for the very soul of the party.
Photo: zakokor, Getty
