President calls on Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act

In his first address before a joint session of Congress, President Trump last night called on legislators to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act “with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time, provide better health care.” He outlined five principles for repeal and replace, including ensuring that those with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, and that “we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the health care exchanges”; offering assistance for individuals to purchase health coverage  through the use of tax credits and expanded health savings accounts; giving the states “the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out”; implementing legal reforms to “protect patients and doctors from unnecessary costs that drive up the price of insurance – and work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs and bring them down immediately”; and allowing insurance to be sold across state lines. “Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for America,” President Trump said. “The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we will do.” House Republican leaders have signaled they intend to begin marking up legislation to repeal and potentially replace the ACA in the coming days. Draft legislation that became public last week appears to align with many of the principles President Trump outlined last night. However, Republican leaders have stressed that the draft, dated Feb. 10, is already outdated.