clinical social work association

Dear CSWA Members,

As you know, a vote on a health care bill that would allow debate on whether to repeal and/or replace the Affordable Care Act has been scheduled in the Senate tomorrow.  There is no clarity from leadership exactly about what will be in the bill. Therefore, it is difficult for CSWA to give specific guidance any what message to give your senators.  Here is a summary of the possible bill that will be voted on.

1. A bill that will repeal the ACA without replacing it, with the goal of passing a replacement prior to the 2018 elections.
   
2. The Better Care Reconciliation ACT which will include caps on Medicaid, eliminate the essential benefits, and allow some pre-existing conditions to be the basis for denying insurance.
3. The American Health Care Act which was passed by the House a month ago and has much of what is in the BCRA.
4. A bill which has not been discussed and will some new version of the bills above.

The CBO score on the BCRA, which came out last Monday, had the same 22-23 million that would lose insurance as the AHCA. 

All the bills we have heard about are damaging to access to mental health treatment, mental health parity, and coverage for Medicaid enrollees who need mental health services.

I will let you know more when the actual bill is finally revealed.  In CSWA's view, this process is an example of bad governance.  It seems very politically based and has little to do with people getting good health care or actually improving the ACA.