On September 13, 2017, Senate Republicans introduced a bill (referred to as The Graham-Cassidy bill) to try, one more time, to repeal and replace portions of the ACA. The bill contains many of the provisions included in legislation proposed earlier this year. In fact, it was originally designed to be an amendment to prior legislation that was proposed in the Senate. New to this bill is a system that changes current federal spending on a number of ACA programs to block grants to states. Beginning in 2019, federal expenditures for ACA premium tax credits, cost-sharing reductions, Medicaid expansion, and the Basic Health Plan Program would be redirected to states through a funding formula based principally on state demographics.
