Agent develops H.R. 1628 alternative

A Louisiana health insurance agent who dislikes the Affordable Care Act change and replacement proposals coming out of Washington, such as H.R. 1628, has developed his own proposal.

Jeff Holloway says his proposal, for the Healthcare Reconciliation Act of 2017, would keep many of the ACA consumer protection provisions people like, get rid of rules that people hate, and promote the role of licensed health insurance agents and brokers in getting people get covered.

Related: H.R. 1628 chaos raises odds for ACA survival

Holloway would start by repealing the ACA.

He would then make Medicaid expansion coverage available to all people earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

For higher-income people, he would eliminate the individual mandate, the current ACA premium and cost-sharing reduction subsidies, and the ACA public exchange system.

He would keep the ban on medical underwriting and the essential health benefits package.

To make up for the lack of ACA subsidies and the lack of an individual mandate, he would encourage people to get covered by letting them deduct their health insurance premiums from taxable incomes.

Holloway also would eliminate all of the nonprofit exchange plan helpers created by the ACA, such as navigators, and require that health insurance enrollments be done through licensed agents and brokers.

He would eliminate the current open enrollment period system, which is supposed to keep people from using the current ACA ban on medical underwriting as a chance to wait until they get sick to pay for coverage. He would replace that system with a six-month exclusion on coverage for pre-existing conditions when people get covered.

He would also include statements about congressional, individual and insurer responsibility.