The U.S. House of Representatives took steps to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act by passing H.R. 1628, (AHCA) on May 4. H.R. 1628 repeals several of the most harmful and burdensome provisions of the ACA, including the employer mandate penalty, costly tax increases and limitations on contributions to and restrictions on the use of flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts. ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓsent a letter in support of H.R. 1628 to the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed the House by a . The bill now awaits action in the U.S. Senate.

A summary of H.R. 1628 and the amendments is available, . Ìý

Background on the American Health Care Act:
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House Republicans on March 6, and it advanced in the energy and commerce, ways and means, budget and rules committees.
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On March 13, the (CBO) estimated that the AHCA will reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion over 10 years as well as increase the number of uninsured to 24 million in 2026 compared to current law. In addition to reducing the federal deficit, Speaker Ryan stated that the CBO report validated that .Ìý
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Following the CBO’s March 13 analysis, technical and policy changes were made to the AHCA, and on March 23, CBO revised its to reflect the manager’s amendments. Amendments to the bill can be found .Ìý

During the week of March 20, Republican leadership in the House scheduled a vote on H.R. 1628. ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓjoined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several other organizations in sending to the House in support of the AHCA on March 22. But on March 24, the bill was pulled due to a lack of votes.

ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓhas for several provisions included in the AHCA:

Zeroes out the penalties for the employer mandate (retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016).Ìý
Repeals the flexible spending account (FSA) contribution limit.
on health savings accounts (HSA). Ìý
Repeals the for FSAs and HSAs. Ìý
Repeals the .Ìý
Repeals the Health Insurance Tax, or the HIT (ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓis a member of the )
Repeals the medical device taxÌý

On April 26, the co-chair of the moderate Tuesday Group, Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), and the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) proposed revisions to H.R. 1628, known as . The provided states the option to apply to waive essential health benefits, age rating, and community rating.Ìý

On May 3, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) introduced an , which made an additional $8 billion from 2018 to 2023 available for states through an application process specified by the MacArthur amendment.Ìý

ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓwill continue to provide updates in on the status of the AHCA and other health care issues that impact ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmembers.Ìý