- The GOP Health Care Plan Could Wipe Out Nearly a Million Jobs: Study Fiscal Times by Beth Braverman—The American Health Care Act passed by the House of Representatives could be a serious job killer. If the bill were to pass the Senate in its current form (the Senate is working on its version of the bill in secret so it’s hard to say just how different the Senate version is), the economy would lose 924,000 jobs over the next decade, according to a new report from George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health and the Commonwealth Fund. The 31 states that expanded Medicaid coverage would see the deepest and fastest economic losses.
- Flexibility That ACA Lent to Work Force Is Threatened by GOP Plan New York Times by Reed Abelson—In recent years, millions of middle- and working-class Americans have moved from job to job, some staying with one company for shorter stints or shifting careers midstream. The Affordable Care Act has enabled many of those workers to get transitional coverage that provides a bridge to the next phase of their lives—a stopgap to get health insurance if they leave a job, are laid off, start a business or retire early. If the Republican replacement plan approved by the House becomes law, changing jobs or careers could become much more difficult. Across the nation, Americans in their 50s and early 60s, still too young to qualify for Medicare, could be hit hard by soaring insurance costs, especially people now eligible for generous subsidies through the existing federal health care law.