The House's Obamacare repeal and replacement bill, expected to be released later tonight, has been changed in some significant ways to address conservatives' concerns, Politico reports.
- The bill no longer caps the tax break for employer-sponsored coverage benefits. Instead, it keeps Obamacare's "Cadillac tax" on expensive benefits. However, the tax is delayed until 2025. It's currently set to go into effect in 2020.
- The tax credits are now means tested, as well as varying by age. Individuals making more than $75,000 and households earning more than $150,000 would have reduced tax credits. Those earning more than $215,000 individually or $290,000 jointly would not receive tax credits.
- Obamacare's Medicaid expansion is still phased out, and a per-person cap on spending still replaces the current open-ended matching system. However, the spending growth rate in future years is reduced, meaning states get less money over time.
- The repeal of many of Obamacare's taxes is delayed until 2018, a year after the old version would have repealed them.
The bottom line: These changes make the bill look significantly more like Obamacare. It's anyone's guess how both conservative and moderate Republicans will react.