President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This campaign promise, which echoes a familiar refrain from Republicans since ACA’s passage, is more complex than it may seem.
There are pathways to quickly “repealing” key elements of ACA such as the individual mandate and its subsidies, but this could result in significant market disruption in the absence of a replacement. Republicans will now be in charge of putting together a health reform replacement package; what that replacement will look like is an open question.