More expensive, less useful

What the Senate Republican health care plan would mean for Oklahoma

In late June, Senate Republicans emerged from secret negotiations to unveil their version of a bill to make big changes to America’s health care system. The last big health care reform, the Affordable Care Act, created popular new consumer protections for all Americans and extended health coverage to tens of millions who couldn’t get it before. Nevertheless, many remain unsatisfied with high premiums and deductibles, as well as limited options on the individual marketplace.

Unfortunately, the Senate Republican plan (the Better Care Reconciliation Act, or BCRA) would only make these problems worse. The BCRA would require Americans to pay substantially more for worse coverage. It would undercut the health care safety net, nearly doubling the uninsured rate, while delivering a massive tax cut for corporations and the wealthy.

Carly Putnam is a policy analyst with Oklahoma Policy Institute. For the rest of this article and more, visit okpolicy.org.