The Patient Freedom Act of 2017 crafted by Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and Maine Sen. Susan Collins allows states to keep the Affordable Care Act along with its personal mandates, select an alternative form of healthcare, or choose to forgo federal help. The alternative plan will ensure price transparency as a mandate to reduce the confusion between medical providers and patients.
With the challenges the Obama Administration faced to pass the Affordable Care Act, the Republican party now plans to replace it and introduce their plan that allows states to choose.
Throughout President Trump's campaign, he promised he would repeal the Affordable Care Act and introduce a plan called the Patient Freedom Act of 2017, which would replace and repeal parts of the act on a state-by-state basis.
By allowing states to use their reserved powers, this proposed legislation still has the potential to leave millions of people in a variety of states without affordable health insurance.
"Right now, I'm a little worried for me and my mother come 2018 because the ACA is in place until the end of 2017," Larissa McFarland a junior general studies major said. "Now with Trump's decision to put choice back into the state and to the insurance companies itself, I do worry about what insurance is going to look like for us in the next few years."
The Patient Freedom Act of 2017 intends to re-create a plan that will follow free-market principles in order to "broaden healthcare access, make health care more affordable and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans," according to Trump's campaign website.
RELATED: Future of Affordable Care Act
Although there was a push for the new health care law to take place this year, Trump has recently announced a plan to extend the timeline.
When asked whether Americans could expect a new health care plan to be rolled out by the Trump administration in an interview with Fox New's Bill O'Reilly on Feb. 5, Trump said that "maybe it'll take until sometime into next year."
"We are certainly gonna be in the process," Trump told O'Reilly. "You have to remember Obamacare doesn't work. So we are putting in a wonderful plan. It statutorily takes a while to get. We're going to be putting it in fairly soon. I would like to say, by the end of the year, at least the rudiments, but we should have something within the year and the following year."
Even though Trump said Obamacare "doesn't work", an estimated 19 million people gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act from 2010 to 2015, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
McFarland is one of the million who takes advantage of Obamacare, which initially banned discrimination for healthcare.
Under the Affordable Care Act, McFarland has been able to receive treatment for her pre-existing condition of Ulcerative Colitis and Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome.
"Even though I'm a minor, the coverage given to me by my mom's provider was very limited and we were having to pay a lot out of pocket for my treatments," McFarland said. " Now, because they can't refuse treatment options based on pre-existing conditions we're paying a tenth of what were paying before."
McFarland is fearful of what is to come with Trump's change in the health care coverage will bring as a Hoosier living in Indiana, which she said "is typically a state that goes red."
"I've lived under a Republican state my whole life and I know what that looks like without the ACA so I just imagine that I'm going to go back to what I experienced in my early teenage years," she said.
Like McFarland, Emily Ambritz has benefited from Obamacare by being on her parents' insurance.
"What’s great is that all of my birth control is covered, without it I would pay $331 and I can't afford that," said the senior public relations major.
While she does benefit from the current health care plan, Ambritz said she is optimistic for the new reform and feels that "all things have room for improvement."
"I think overall it is a solid plan," Ambritz said. "I think the ideas are strong, pretty affective, but I think there are a lot of things that should be changed with a lot of policies."
With the Republican party still working on a "comprehensive replacement plan," Americans will have until 2017 to decide what their next steps will be in receiving health insurance for the future.
Read More
'We have momentum on our side:' Ball State softball advances to MAC Tournament after defeating Central Michigan
By Zach Carter / 10 hours agoIn its final regular season series of the 2024 season, Ball State defeated Central Michigan 2-1. The win gave the Cardinals a berth into the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Cardinals win on the road against NIU
By Trinity Rea / 12 hours agoWith just two more series and two solo games remaining in Ball State Baseball's regular season, the team is attempting to fight its way up the Mid-American Conference (MAC) standings.
Yorktown softball defeats Wes-Del in 2024 Delaware County Tournament Final
By David Moore / YesterdayThe championship game was set, Tigers vs. Warriors for the 2024 Delaware County crown. By the end of the afternoon, it was Yorktown running away, taking a 10-0 victory over the Warriors.
