This week, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives announced a new plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The plan is part of a broader agenda: “A Better Way” by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and the House Republicans.

With limited days remaining in this year’s congressional calendar, the agenda is meant to serve as a roadmap for House Republicans in 2017 and beyond.

Since the proposal of the ACA, House Republicans have put forth a number of proposals with the goal of improving America’s health care system. In this new whitepaper, they combined many of these proposals to form an alternative to the ACA. While only a whitepaper, the replacement plan offers a number of changes to the current health care system, including:

• Fully repealing the ACA.
• Offering a refundable tax credit to buy insurance in the individual market for those without access to employer coverage, Medicare or Medicaid.
• Seeking to expand the use of health savings accounts.
• Capping the tax break on employer-based premiums. The level of the cap has not been determined.
• Allowing health insurance sales across state lines.
• Allowing small businesses and individuals to band together through new pooling mechanisms in an effort to increase their purchasing power so they can negotiate with insurers for lower prices.
• Enacting medical liability reform.

The 37-page plan has not been turned into legislative language. At this time, action on the plan is not expected this year. Instead, the document serves as more of a blueprint for 2017 and beyond, depending on the makeup of the U.S. Senate, House and Presidency after the November elections.  

Wyatt Stewart is Big “I” senior director of federal government affairs.