10 questions Americans are—and should be—asking about the House-Passed AHCA and its projected impact

On May 4th, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), complete with a series of amendments that represent compromises to gather enough votes. The majority of amendments centered around compromises to either relax federal requirements for the essential health benefits that were required in the Affordable Care Act as well as compromises to add more money to care for older patients or those with high risk medical conditions, since those patients are more likely to find insurance unaffordable due to changes allowing insurance companies to charge more for these patients.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the estimated impact of the AHCA after the bill had already passed the House, finding that the bill would reduce access for 23 million Americans compared to the Affordable Care Act, largely through changes to the Medicaid program as well as issues of affordability and what is even considered to provide enough protection to count as insurance. While the Senate is working on their own bill that will likely look different than the one passed, Americans need to know how they may expect to be affected by this legislation.