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On March 12, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that delaying the Affordable Care Act requirement that individuals buy health insurance (also known as the individual mandate) until 2019 would save $169.5 billion and would more than offset the cost of legislation to repeal the SGR formula, which CBO estimated would cost $138 billion. The CBO report is in response to an amendment proposed by Chairman Dave Camp of the House Ways and Means Committee to H.R. 4015/S.2000, the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014, that uses the individual mandate to pay for the legislation.
The House is expected to vote on this legislation including the individual mandate “pay for” this week. However, Democrats in the House and Senate have signaled that they are opposed to using the individual mandate as an offset.
In addition, the White House released a statement indicating that the administration strongly opposes the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act because it “includes an offset that would increase health insurance premiums, decrease tax credits, increase the number of uninsured, and shift costs to businesses, workers, and health care providers.” The White House indicated that President Obama would veto the bill.
On Sunday, March 2, the ASA Board of Directors voted to take “no position at this time” on H.R. 4015/S.2000.
Learn more about ASA’s position on the SGR repeal and replacement bills.
