Nothing resembling a repeal/replace consensus bill emerged from any committee in either chamber during the survey period.  Instead, in a Fox News interview broadcast just before the Super Bowl, the President confessed that ACA repeal may require more than a year.  A concise summary by Peter Sullivan in The Hill is online here.

Consistent with that impression, ACA bills introduced last week just nibble around the edges.

H.R. 710 assumes that the ACA is not repealed and so amends it to better align ACA non-payment grace periods with those established in state laws.

H.R. 708 would relax the present ACA age banding rules and H.R. 706 would tighten special enrollment eligibility verification requirements.

Like H.R. 849,  S. 260 (Sen. Cornyn, R-TX) and S. 251 (Sen. Wyden, D–OR) would repeal only the ACA’s Independent Payment Advisory Board.  The same Senators filed similar Independent Medicare Advisory Board disapproval resolutions – S.J. Res. 17 (Cornyn) and S.J. Res. 16 (Wyden).

The video of the February 1, 2017 ACA hearing held by the Senate H.E.L.P. Committee is online here.  On February 2, the House Ways and Means Committee posted some early information about its “concept of a health care backpack” in lieu of the present ACA structure.

The IRS has posted two editions of the Internal Revenue Bulletin since our last update, neither detailing ACA tax and penalty assessment procedures.

The ACA was not repealed or replaced on Day 1; neither is likely to happen by Day 100.  What Winston Churchill said.

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