Republican leaders outline plan to replace Affordable Care Act

Three top Republican Congressional leaders released a nine page document on 5 February that outlines how Republicans might replace the Affordable Care Act should the law be repealed by legislation or gutted by an upcoming Supreme Court ruling.1

Although Republicans have repeatedly vowed “to repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act—with the US House of Representatives voting 56 times to repeal all or parts of the law since its passage in 2010—party leaders have failed to present an alternative to the law, which has made it possible for 19 million Americans to obtain health insurance.

Now that they have gained control of both the House and the Senate, and the Supreme Court is soon to hear a case challenging the legality of the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies that currently help millions of low and middle income consumers purchase insurance,2 Republicans have come under increasing pressure to tell voters how they would replace the law should it be repealed or severely undermined by the court.

The proposal, which was released by Utah’s Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, North Carolina’s Senator Richard Burr, a member of the Finance Committee, and Representative Fred Upton, a Republican from Michigan and chairman of the House Energy and …