Council for Affordable Health Coverage’s Policy Recommendations for ACA Repeal and Replace

Broad-based coalition releases white paper arguing for short-term market stabilization solutions and long-term cost containment.

 WASHINGTON, DC (February 1, 2017) — Today, the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC) — a coalition of employers, biopharmaceutical companies, insurers, brokers, agents, patient groups, and physician organizations — released a white paper advocating for competition and consumer choice amidst ACA repeal and replace efforts.

“The Affordable Care Act corrected market imbalances and reduced the number of uninsured Americans to historic lows — but its tendency toward overregulation led to double-digit premium hikes.” said CAHC President Joel White. “Despite the fact that health costs rose four times faster than wages under President Obama, health care costs and their effect on the American family are often absent from reform dialogue. They can’t be. Proactively coupling ACA replacement efforts with policies that increase value, choice, access, and competition will lower American health care costs.”

ACA shortcomings have led insurers to exit the exchanges, leaving consumers with an extremely unbalanced risk pool and fewer health plan options. The resulting exodus of healthy consumers is raising costs across the marketplace.

CAHC’s comprehensive policy recommendations, advise the new Congress and Administration to stabilize markets, cultivate healthy risk pools, empower consumers, reduce regulatory burdens, enable state flexibility, and support the employer market.

“Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act opens a world of possibility to correct the law’s truly unaffordable components — and even offers opportunities for bipartisanship,” said Katie Allen, executive director of CAHC. “But it’s imperative that new legislation balance the market and protect consumers straightaway.”

In the wake of imminent health care reform from President Trump and Republican congressional representatives, CAHC’s policy proposal aims to guide the U.S. healthcare market to a sustainable, more affordable solution.