--- title: Health Care Bill Would Exempt Lawmakers From Rollbacks description: House Republicans introduced an amendment allowing states to opt out of Obamacare regulations - but those conditions won't apply to them. canonical: https://time.com/4755983/ahca-health-care-lawmakers-congress-exempt/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T15:49:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:37:02.052Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bill Would Exempt Lawmakers From Rollback of Affordable Care Act Protections og:description: Including the ban on pre-existing conditions. og:url: https://time.com/4755983/ahca-health-care-lawmakers-congress-exempt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteffac4ec032fee56/6988cabf196cf42b3303fd9a/paul-ryan-healthcare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-HEALTH-REPUBLICANS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Would Exempt Lawmakers From Rollback of Affordable Care Act Protections twitter:description: Including the ban on pre-existing conditions. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteffac4ec032fee56/6988cabf196cf42b3303fd9a/paul-ryan-healthcare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill Would Exempt Lawmakers From Rollback of Affordable Care Act Protections  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 26, 2017 3:49 PM UTC  US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan talks to reporters on March 24, 2017, during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, about the American Health Care Act US President Donald Trump on Friday asked Ryan to withdraw an embattled Republican health care bill, moments before a vote, signaling a major political defeat for the US president. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas Kamm (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images) US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan talks to reporters on March 24, 2017, during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, about the American Health Care Act US President Donald Trump on Friday asked Ryan to withdraw an embattled Republican health care bill, moments before a vote, signaling a major political defeat for the US president. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas Kamm (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 26, 2017 3:49 PM UTC House Republicans introduced a health care amendment earlier this week that would allow states to opt out of certain [Obamacare](http://time.com/4739687/trump-obamacare-insurance-health/) regulations — but those conditions won’t apply to them. The amendment, according to a copy [first obtained by Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/25/republicans-obamacare-repeal-237609), allows states to waive out of certain regulations from Obamacare that remained in place under the [American Health Care Act](http://time.com/money/4700402/republican-obamacare-replacement-cbo-numbers/), including a ban on charging people higher premiums for [preexisting conditions.](http://time.com/money/4748384/high-risk-insurance-pools/) But according to [a report from Vox, ](http://www.vox.com/2017/4/25/15429982/gop-exemption-ahca-amendment)Congressional lawmakers and their staffers would be allowed to keep these types of regulations, a spokesperson for Rep. Tom Macarthur, who wrote the amendment, confirmed to the outlet. So if a Representative is from a state that decides to waive out these regulations, that representative — or their staffer — can keep those provisions in their plan. **READ MORE:** [President Trump Fails to Convince Some Republicans to Repeal Obamacare](http://time.com/4708668/donald-trump-obamacare-republican-ahca-healthcare/?iid=sr-link7) This represents a break from Obamacare, Vox reports, when legislatures had the same coverage options as their constituents. It is unclear, however, if this amendment will pass in Congress. The American Health Care Act did not even garner enough support to make it to the House floor for a vote. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4755983/ahca-health-care-lawmakers-congress-exempt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4755983/ahca-health-care-lawmakers-congress-exempt/"},"headline":"Bill Would Exempt Lawmakers From Rollback of Affordable Care Act Protections","datePublished":"2017-04-26T15:49:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:37:02.052Z","description":"Including the ban on pre-existing conditions","url":"https://time.com/4755983/ahca-health-care-lawmakers-congress-exempt/","keywords":["Congress","Obamacare","Affordable Care Act","Healthcare","onetime","AHCA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteffac4ec032fee56/6988cabf196cf42b3303fd9a/paul-ryan-healthcare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteffac4ec032fee56/6988cabf196cf42b3303fd9a/paul-ryan-healthcare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-REPUBLICANS","caption":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-REPUBLICANS","creditText":"NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4755983/ahca-health-care-lawmakers-congress-exempt/","name":"Bill Would Exempt Lawmakers From Rollback of Affordable Care Act Protections"}}]}] ```