The New Provisions Of Trumpcare
CHICAGO (CBS) -- President Trump unveiled the Republican plan to replace Obamacare, but it came under immediate fire from both the left and the right.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley outlines the new provisions of "Trumpcare."
"This will be a plan where you can choose your doctor. This will be a plan where you can choose your plan," Trump said of the plan created by U.S. Republican lawmakers.
President Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking the wraps off their proposal to replace Obamacare. Their focus is on attacking costs for small businesses and individual buyers.
"Your deductible in this market, in that individual and small group market, oftentimes is $8-$10-$12,000 a year. What that means is that you've got an insurance card but you don't get care," said Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price.
The GOP plan eliminates the individual mandate, employer mandate and most taxes. Replacing them is a massive expansion of health savings accounts and refundable tax credits for low and middle income Americans who don't get coverage through their jobs.
Depending on age and family size, this can range from $2,000-14,000 a year so they can purchase insurance. But those tax credits are infuriating conservatives like Senator Rand Paul.
"That sounds like Obamacare lite to me," he said.
But Gov. Bruce Rauner worries about the plan's impact on Illinois.
"My first blush read is Illinois won't do very well under the changes that they're recommending, which is a big concern to me," Rauner said.
Thousands in Illinois are expected to lose Medicaid coverage, and hospitals are especially worried. Since 2009, taxpayer support for Stroger Hospital decreased from $480 million to $111 million because more patients are insured.
"It's directly going to impact poor and working poor or working lower middle classes access to quality care," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.
In all, 20 million Americans gained medical coverage under Obamacare, with about half of those under expanded Medicaid. Even GOP supporters don't believe the Trump plan will cover that many.
This is especially important in Illinois, where almost one in four residents, three million in all, currently receive Medicaid. Under the Trump plan, that number will go down; how much remains to be seen.
