Disaster Averted, For Now: How the American Health Care Act Would Have Affected Californians

Although the American Health Care Act (AHCA) was defeated in March 2017, the policies in the bill represented a mix of ideas long favored by conservatives. If enacted, this repeal-and-replace bill would have had devastating consequences for most of the 5 million Californians currently receiving direct benefits from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) including more than 1 million who receive subsidies through Covered California and almost 4 million who have enrolled in the Medi-Cal expansion.

Although the bill failed to garner enough votes for passage, it is likely that efforts to chip away at the ACA will continue and that some of the ideas contained within the AHCA will be revisited. This policy brief summarizes some of the most significant reversals that would have occured under the Republican plan in the individual and small group insurance markets.

• Petra Rasmussen, MPH
• Bryce Henderson
• Gerald F. Kominski, Ph.D.