Repealing Obamacare costly for middle- and low-income families but not rich

Over 400,000 could lose coverage in Wisconsin.

Millions of Americans could be left without health insurance if Congressional Republicans follow through with their plan to repeal “Obamacare” early in the new year. 

Just in Wisconsin, it could be catastrophic to many.

“The numbered of uninsured people in Wisconsin could grow by more than 400,000 over the next three years if Congress goes ahead with repeal and replace,” Jon Peacock with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families said. “That would be about a 130-percent increase in the number of uninsured people in Wisconsin.”

Repealing is also a “reverse Robin Hood,” writes the Chicago Tribune. “It’s taking tax subsidies from the poor to give as tax cuts to the rich. The starkest way to think about that is that the bottom 60 percent would get negative 61.1 percent of the total benefits of getting rid of Obamacare, while the top 1 percent would get 117.5 percent. … The wealthiest would gain more than the country as a whole would, because the working class wouldn’t be gaining anything at all. They’d be losing tax credits, and the health insurance those bought them.”

That plan bothers interest groups that work with families, which suggest that a replacement plan is needed.  Peacock argues that many parts of the Affordable Care Act are popular with the public.

“The law itself sort of, in many people’s minds, has negative connotations,” Peacock said, “but when people are polled about the pieces, there almost all very popular.”

Peacock wants to see Congress save portions of the Affordable Care Act, which seem to be favored by customers. He cites the coverage of people with preexisting conditions as one part worth preserving.

Peacock also said Congress owes it to the public to have a clear plan for the future, before throwing aside Obamacare.

“Under a repeal law that doesn’t have a replacement, there would also be ripple effects that would hurt other people who would have individual plans outside the subsidized market,” Peacock said.

Repealing would mean more than eight million consumers receiving tax credits through the law to help pay for health insurance could take a significant hit. They would lose financial assistance worth several thousand dollars. How big a loss depends on individualized factors such as household size and family income.

The richest households – those with incomes above $3.7 million – would get an average tax cut of about $197,000, said the analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution think tanks.