tag: Affordable Care Act

On Thursday, the House of Representatives took the first step toward repealing and replacing the act. But as Congress continues to debate the future of health care, just what has the Affordable Care Act meant for people in Champaign County?

The House may yet pass its bill to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act. But Republicans' options to fulfill their seven-year effort to undo the federal health law are getting narrower by the day.

You’ve heard all kinds of numbers related to the Affordable Care Act. The number of people gaining health insurance coverage. The increasing cost of premiums and deductibles. But behind all those numbers are the stories of real people and how the ACA has affected them.

The roughly one million Illinoisans to gain insurance care through the ACA have had an impact on the way health care is delivered in the state. Kristy Kennedy looks at how a repeal of the legislation could affect them, and everyone else in Illinois.

House Republicans have scrapped a vote on their health care replacement plan after defections from both the right and center that made it clear the bill would not pass. NPR's Susan Davis reports that GOP leadership says the Friday afternoon vote is now scrapped after House Speaker Paul Ryan made a last-minute trip to the White House to tell President Trump that the votes weren't there to pass their replacement plan, the American Health Care Act. Trump agreed with Ryan's plan to halt the vote.

The Republican health care bill under consideration in the House of Representatives would change health coverage for a lot of people. It would no longer require that Americans buy health insurance, for instance, and it would eliminate current subsidies, replacing them with a fixed refundable tax credit.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration is urging congressional leaders to avoid "hasty" or "incomplete" action as they proceed with a planned repeal of the Affordable Care Act. A letter dated Jan. 17 signed by Acting Illinois Insurance Director Jennifer Hammer says Congress and the states "must work together" to achieve "important reforms" in health care policy.

Test your knowledge on the Affordable Care Act, and compare it to respondants in a new NPR/Ipsos poll. Only 14% of those polled want to repeal the ACA without a replacement.

Thousands of former coal workers and dependents who worked for now-bankrupt coal companies could lose their health insurance at the end of the year if Congress does not pass legislation to fund it. Retirees in southern Illinois say losing their health insurance would amount to a broken promise from the coal companies that would have devastating effects to their well-being.

Sign up started last week for coverage under Obamacare in 2017. Like much of the country, people across Illinois are seeing fewer choices and higher monthly premiums. But one group that’s helping people sign up for coverage says, at least so far, they don’t expect customers to have to scramble to find affordable coverage.