Senate Introduces the BCRA

This summer, Senate Republicans introduced the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, their version of a repeal and replace bill.

Prior to its introduction, on June 22, WSNA sent a letter to Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell, thanking them for their opposition to the AHCA and their continued advocacy for patients and families.

WSNA Letter to Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell

The Senate rules, unlike the House, require scoring from the Congressional Budget Office prior to the passage of a bill. The CBO concluded that the BCRA will take away health insurance coverage from 22 million people.

Like the AHCA, the BCRA would take away Medicaid coverage from hundreds of thousands of people in Washington state. It would phase out the Medicaid expansion by 2024, and would convert traditional Medicaid funding to a per capita allotment – it would also add a state option to require work as a condition of eligibility for people who are non-elderly, disabled, or pregnant.

While the ACA essential health benefit requirement for individual and small group health insurance policies is not changed, including requirement to cover maternity care as an essential health benefit –  like the AHCA, the BCRA makes it easier for states to opt-out of this requirement.

The BCRA also defunds Planned Parenthood in 2018.