Senate Takes First Step Toward Repealing the ACA

Earlier this week, U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) unveiled his FY2017 Budget Resolution, which includes the first step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by using the budget reconciliation process.

The budget resolution contains reconciliation instructions for Senate committees so that ACA repeal legislation can move through a faster process known as reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate. These instructions are meant to facilitate immediate action on repeal, with congressional Republicans determined to send repeal legislation to the President’s desk as soon as possible. Drafting this legislation is expected to require a longer period of time and include an implementation delay.

The Senate could vote on the budget resolution as soon as next week and pave the way for an eventual vote on repealing the ACA early in 2017. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up and pass the same budget resolution on the heels of the Senate vote and send it to the White House soon after President-Elect Trump is sworn into office.

Note that even if Congress passes legislation to repeal most of the ACA early in 2017, a lengthy multiyear transition period is expected before anything replaces the ACA.

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