The U.S. Senate’s efforts to craft a health care reform bill that would fulfill the promise of dismantling the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) have been plagued by partisanship, secrecy, disagreement and mixed messaging. However, the Senate offered some insight Tuesday when it voted 51-50 to move ahead with the health care debate, but then failed to pass a version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) shortly after.
In his Law360 article “ACA Repeal: Deciphering The Path Ahead,” Partner Michael Parme discussed the events leading up to recent events in the health care debate, what the Senate voted on and what to expect next.
“The Senate will have to craft legislation [that] appeases both moderate and hard-right Republicans in the Senate. Despite the challenge ahead, there is continued momentum toward a so-called ‘skinny’ repeal bill, [which] would essentially repeal key provisions of the ACA, such as the individual mandate and employer mandate, while leaving in place other provisions such as the ACA’s Medicaid expansion provisions.”