Quote:Senate Republicans Introduce Scam Bill To Fake Restore Obamacare Preexisting Conditions Protections
Fri, Aug 24th, 2018 by Jason Easley
Ten Senate Republicans who are worried about the blue wave have introduced a scam bill that pretends to restore Obamacare’s protections for people with preexisting conditions.
Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg reported that the bill to restore coverage for preexisting conditions is a mirage:
Larry Levitt, the senior vice president for health reform at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, said the legislation includes loopholes that would make preexisting condition coverage less robust than it is under existing law.
“It prohibits individual premiums from varying based on health but allows them to vary based on age, gender, occupation, and leisure activities. It would allow premium variation based on health in the small business market,” Levitt said in an e-mail. “The big loophole is that it would allow pre-existing condition exclusions, which were common in individual market plans before the ACA.”
“An insurer would have to give you insurance if you have a pre-existing condition, but it could exclude any services associated with your pre-existing condition,” he said. “This would make protections for people with pre-existing conditions a bit of a mirage.”
People with preexisting conditions would have insurance in name only
For example, an insurance company could deny a person with diabetes coverage for medications or services related to the treatment of their condition, so the diabetic would still have insurance, but that insurance would not cover the reason why it was needed.
People would be paying a higher premium and get nothing in return. The goal of all Republican policies on health care is the same. People should pay more money for less coverage, and control of what’s covered should be in the hands of the insurance companies, not doctors and patients.
Republicans are getting pummeled on health care
The Republicans introduced this bill for one simple reason. They are being pummeled by Democrats and the voters on the issue of healthcare. Health care is consistently listed as the top voter concern in the midterm election, but instead of admitting that they were wrong to take away health insurance from tens of millions of people, Senate Republicans have done what they do best. They are offering up a fake bill that pretends to do something but does nothing.
The blue wave is coming and fake last second displays on healthcare aren’t going to be enough to stop it.
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