Now, the president-elect's concepts need to be turned into actual plans if he's going to take action against ACA. BenefitsPRO rounded up three possible scenarios that experts envision:

'Massive changes'?

"If Republicans maintain control of the House, changes to the ACA could be 'massive,' according to House Speaker Mike Johnson," notes KFF. "While ACA repeal was not a winning issue in 2017, Republicans could attempt to offset tax cuts by significantly reducing ACA subsidies and making massive funding cuts and changes to how Medicaid is financed, with far-reaching implications, beyond the ACA Medicaid expansion. This would be similar to the 2017 'repeal and replace' push that would have left most protections for people with preexisting conditions in place but nonetheless would have left tens of millions without affordable health coverage due to budget cuts. As was the case in 2017, changes to ACA and Medicaid funding could be done through budget reconciliation, without concern of the filibuster."

Technical fixes only?

"Efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) no longer retain the level of political or public support they did in 2016. Instead, recent comments from President-elect Trump have suggested he takes credit for 'saving' the ACA; this may indicate more focus on technical fixes across the sector rather than sweeping reforms," according to PwC.

Instant Insights /

Potential ACA actions the Trump Administration could take

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