Trump Healthcare Act – Differences and Consequences

It is no secret that the United States has always had issues with its healthcare system. It was always incredibly expensive and denied coverage to those who most needed it. When Obamacare came to help those people out, it raised the premiums for those it did not aid. Now, the Trump administration has its own plan to “fix” these issues.

An interesting fact is that the US spends a lot of money on health (more than any other OECD member state), but Americans are simply not well covered. Maternal healthcare in the United States is literally worse than in Iran and Libya.

So, now, after being elected for (among other reasons) promising that he will replace the Obamacare, on his inauguration day, Trump finally signed the executive order to start disassembling President Obama’s plan.
At this point, we will not go into the debate about whether or not Obamacare was a good or a bad plan. Instead, we will try to focus on the changes that Trump is making to healthcare in America. The document is already colloquially known as Trumpcare, even if the actual name is the American Health Care Act.

Now, let’s go through the biggest changes that are coming with this act.

 Tax credits to help with buying insurance

The idea of the Republicans is that the healthcare should be controlled by the market and not by the government. They decided to offer refundable tax credits to help people switch to Trumpcare. Those who do not have insurance through their jobs can get $2,000 if they are younger than 30 and up to $4,000 if they are older than 60. The wealthiest people will not be eligible for the credit.

 No more fines for those who do not have insurance

One of the bigger issues Americans had with Obamacare was that you had to be insured; if you refused, you faced fines. Under Obamacare, large companies were also facing fines if their employees were not insured. However, insurance companies will now be allowed to charge a whopping 30 percent premium if the cover can lapse for nine weeks or more.

 Trumpcare will remove the limits on health care savings

Those who live in the United States will now have the option of almost doubling the amount of money that they can save up in their healthcare accounts. Obamacare had limits on the savings. The American Health Care Act will also allow people not to be insured. Aso, larger companies with a lot of employees will no longer need to ensure the people who work for them.

 Further cuts to women’s care

Planned Parenthood will have its funding cut. As we should know by now, Planned Parenthood receives federal funding while providing women specific care. They offer abortions, which is a controversial topic, but Planned Parenthood also offers cancer screenings and contraception.

 Trumpcare gives the control to insurance companies

Companies that offer insurance will have full freedom in setting their own prices. This, unfortunately, means that older people will be at a bigger risk of losing their insurance as Obamacare limited the amount of money they could be charged, which was set at triple the amount younger customers paid.

Some people estimate that the insurance companies will now increase that figure to up to five times larger.
Medicaid will also be slowly rolled back. As we know, it was a program that used funds to help disabled and deeply impoverished people have insurance.

 Things that stay the same

• — Young people (younger than 26) can still be covered by their parents’ insurance.
• — Those who have previously diagnosed conditions will still be entitled to the coverage.
• — Every company that provides health insurance will still have to offer ten health benefits. This includes maternity care and various preventative services.
• — These companies will still not be allowed to set a limit o how much they have to pay up for coverage.

 The cost of Trumpcare

Well, nobody still knows. Unfortunately, the American Health Care Act doesn’t give us any solid numbers, and it is still pretty much guesswork. However, it stands to reason that although the prices will definitely change, for better or for worse remains to be seen.