On Fox News Sunday this morning, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short admitted that the Graham-Cassidy health care repeal bill eliminates protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, the most popular and essential provisions in the law has been coverage for pre-existing conditions. As many as half of all Americans have them, and Republicans have consistently paid lip service to continuing to ensure they will be covered. The GOP’s latest repeal bill, however, allows states to waive these protections — paving the way for insurance companies to once again discriminate against hundreds of millions of people. And as the bill heats up, so has the coverage highlighting the GOP’s plan…
Associated Press: Winners and losers in GOP’s last-ditch health overhaul
“Losers — People with health problems or with pre-existing medical conditions could be charged more if the state they live in obtains a waiver from current requirements that forbid insurers from charging higher premiums based on health status. States could also seek waivers from the current requirement that insurers cover 10 basic kinds of services, such as maternity and childbirth, or mental health and substance abuse treatment.”
The Hill: GOP takes heavy fire over pre-existing conditions
“The new ObamaCare repeal measure from Senate Republicans would give states a way to repeal protections for people with pre-existing conditions, a controversial move that opponents of the bill are denouncing.”
Vox: How Cassidy-Graham brings back preexisting conditions
“The new Republican plan to repeal Obamacare would bring preexisting conditions back to the individual market, allowing insurers to charge sick people higher premiums — or deny them coverage outright. ‘You can be charged more for a specific condition,’ says Chris Sloan, a senior manager at the health research firm Avalere, of the Cassidy-Graham plan that has begun to gain traction on Capitol Hill.”
Bloomberg: GOP Health Bill Would End Guarantee That Sick People Won’t Pay More
“Under the latest Republican bill, states could get a waiver allowing insurers to charge people more if they or a dependent have a pre-existing condition, or if they get sick and want to keep their insurance. The key provision in the bill has vague language requiring a state to first show how it ‘intends to maintain access to adequate and affordable health insurance coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions.’”
Politico: Kimmel, not Cassidy, is right on health care, analysts say
“But experts say that Cassidy and Graham’s bill can’t guarantee those protections and that Kimmel’s assessment was basically accurate because of the flexibility the bill gives states to set up their own health care systems. For example, health insurers could hike premiums for patients with pre-existing conditions if their states obtain waivers from Obamacare regulations — as Kimmel said.
NPR: Latest GOP Effort To Replace Obamacare Could End Health Care For Millions
“But many experts say the bill would have an impact similar to earlier Republican proposals for repealing the Affordable Care Act. Graham-Cassidy would eliminate coverage for many low-income people who gained insurance through the Medicaid expansion and could gut protections for people with existing medical conditions because states would be encouraged to seek waivers from the federal government’s rules on what must be covered.
The Hill: Blue Cross warns GOP repeal bill ‘undermines’ pre-existing condition rules
“The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association warned against a new GOP ObamaCare bill on Wednesday, saying it would ‘undermine’ protections for pre-existing conditions. ‘The bill contains provisions that would allow states to waive key consumer protections, as well as undermine safeguards for those with pre-existing medical conditions,’ the association said in a statement.”
NBC News: New GOP Plan Could Sow Health Care Chaos
“Most notably, states could free up insurers to charge people more for pre-existing conditions or reduce their plan’s benefits, which could open up customers to annual or lifetime caps on coverage.”
New York Magazine: 4 Ways Graham-Cassidy Would Make the Health-Care System Far Worse
“Under Graham-Cassidy, insurers could not refuse to cover someone because of a preexisting condition, but they would be able to make coverage so exorbitantly expensive that sick people couldn’t afford it.”