NEJM ‘Perspective’ describes efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act
March 30, 2017
Jonathan Oberlander, PhD, is author of a ‘Perspective’ column, published online March 22 in The England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that asked whether the current administration and Congress can dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as “Obamacare.”
Dr. Jon Oberlander
Oberlander, professor of health policy and management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and professor and chair of social medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, has studied the health care plan at length and has written a number of articles about the plan’s advantages and flaws, including in many other NEJM ‘Perspective’ articles.
The initial bill proposed by Republican representatives to replace the ACA, called the American Health Care Act (AHCA), selectively would repeal certain ACA provisions, including the penalty on large employers who do not offer insurance, taxes on wealthier people and the health-care industry that fund coverage for the uninsured, and federal payments to states that expand Medicaid.
Despite the rhetoric to repeal the ACA, the Republicans’ replacement plan retained many of the popular aspects of the original plan, including allowing children up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ insurance policies.
The Congress was scheduled to vote on the AHCA on March 23, seven years to the day after the ACA’s being signed into law. Subsequent to the publication of Oberlander’s article, the bill was withdrawn before coming to a vote because congressional representatives had indicated that it would not pass.
“Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act ever since its enactment,” Oberlander wrote. “But President Trump and congressional Republicans are discovering what Democrats learned long ago: Health care reform is politically treacherous.”
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
