Law360 interviewed Manatt’s Joel Ario and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, managing directors with Manatt Health, for an article on the key takeaways from the Senate’s newly unveiled repeal bill, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act.
Law360 reports that immediate reactions from GOP senators underscored intraparty divisions that may make it difficult for Republicans to cobble together 51 votes.
Ario told the publication that conservatives are likely concerned that the Affordable Care Act’s income-based tax credits are mostly being preserved, although in a less generous form. Ario predicted that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will have a tough time placating the conservatives without alienating other senators.
The bill would also allow states to waive the ACA's ten categories of "essential health benefits.” Waivers would almost certainly make those benefits more costly, undermining protections for people with preexisting conditions who want to use those benefits.
"People who are going to want those services, from an insurer perspective, are going to be higher-risk individuals, and insurers are going to price accordingly," said Brooks-LaSure.