JustCare

Tag: Pre-existing condition

  • Blame President Trump if people with pre-existing conditions lose their health insurance guarantee

    Blame President Trump if people with pre-existing conditions lose their health insurance guarantee

    In an op-ed for the New York Times, former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Andy Slavitt, and Nicholas Bagley explain how President Trump will be to blame if the new Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act. With Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing, extra benefits for people with Medicare very well might fall away as might the guaranteed right to health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions.

    President Trump is supporting a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. His Supreme Court nominee easily could be the deciding vote eliminating the law. If overturned, nearly 15 million people who have Medicaid as a result of the ACA’s expansion of the Medicaid income limit would lose it. And, more than 11 million people who have coverage through the state health insurance exchanges would lose that. People with Medicare Part D would have to spend a lot more for their prescription drugs.

    All Americans with health insurance would lose the guarantee of preventive care services with no deductible or copay, a protection in the ACA. They would also lose the guarantee of no lifetime limits on their coverage. And, children would not be able to get coverage through their parents’ policies until the age of 26.

    The Supreme Court case challenging the ACA is based on the nonsensical claim that because people can no longer pay a penalty as an alternative to buying health insurance–a federal appeals court struck down the penalty provision in the law–the law forces people to buy health insurance, which is unconstitutional. The plaintiffs claim that without a penalty on people who don’t buy health insurance, the language in the law that says people “shall” buy health insurance has no meaning. Of course, eliminating the penalty actually makes it less costly to decide to go without health insurance and was never meant to force people to buy health insurance.

    Plaintiffs further claim that if one part of the law is unconstitutional, the whole law is unconstitutional. This is yet another ridiculous argument. But, President Trump stands behind it. In the meantime, he has made it harder for people to get and stay on Medicaid by requiring people to complete more paperwork.

    Congress could fix the ACA. It could put a $1 financial penalty on people who don’t get health insurance. Or, it could eliminate the “shall” language from the law, so that it can’t be argued that people must buy health insurance. But, these fixes are only possible if the Democrats win control of the Senate and the presidency.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Trump’s health care policy could jeopardize his re-election

    Trump’s health care policy could jeopardize his re-election

    The Hill reports on a recent poll revealing that most voters in four battleground states would not support a presidential candidate favoring Trump’s policies. Voters want the federal government to protect people with pre-existing conditions, people with Medicare, and people needing prescription drugs. President Trump’s health care policies could jeopardize his re-election.

    President Trump’s proposed solutions to high health care costs do nothing to bring down health care prices; rather, they put people’s lives and finances at risk if they need complex or costly care. The Trump administration is working to destroy the Affordable Care Act, including its pre-existing condition protections as well as to slash Medicare spending. Trump recognizes the need to lower prescription drug costs, but he has not succeeded at doing anything on that front.

    In fact as Alex Azar, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, explains in a New York Post op-ed, President Trump is focused on allowing insurance companies to sell low-cost insurance policies that do not provide adequate coverage. For example, he supports the sale of insurance that does not cover prescription drugs. These policies may have lower premiums, but they also come with potentially far higher health care costs.

    Trump is also promoting health savings accounts. These accounts do nothing to lower health care costs. They simply force people to choose between spending a lot of money on health care or foregoing care.

    And, Trump is promoting greater use of physicians’ assistants and nurse practitioners. Physicians’ assistants and nurse practitioners can be valuable health care providers. But, they are not oncologists or surgeons, and they cannot be substituted for them as a way of bringing down health care costs.

    Voters in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin want our health care system to work for everyone, including people who need costly care, according to a poll conducted by Protect Our Care. Other polls suggest the rest of the country is right there with them.

    The poll reveals that more than seven in ten people (72 percent) would not support a candidate who called for doing away with pre-existing condition protections. Nearly eight in ten people (77 percent) would not support a candidate who called for ending prescription drug coverage. And, the vast majority of people want Medicare to be able to negotiate drug prices.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • New poll reveals most Democrats are willing to pay Medicare for all tax

    New poll reveals most Democrats are willing to pay Medicare for all tax

    Pundits suggest that one of the biggest challenges to enacting Medicare for All is that the public will object to paying additional public taxes for their health care. But, is that really a challenge? A new Harvard/POLITICO poll shows that more than 80 percent of Democrats are willing to pay the Medicare for all tax.

    With Medicare for All, people would stop paying a high private tax–premiums, deductibles and coinsurance for their health care. Indeed, eight in ten Americans would pay less for their health care. Only the wealthiest Americans would pay more.

    The poll also shows that:

    • More than four in ten Democrats support repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. Their goal is to ensure coverage for everyone. The ACA, which relies on the states to administer health exchanges, and commercial insurers to provide coverage, will never deliver the good affordable care we all need. Today, millions of Americans are still uninsured and millions with coverage struggle to afford needed care.
    • A solid majority of  Republicans (60 percent) now support letting people under 65 buy into Medicare. The poll did not ask whether they supported Medicare for All to everyone. Curiously, fewer Republicans–51 percent–support a public health insurance option than a Medicare buy-in.  They are one and the same thing, two different ways of describing a Medicare option.
    • Republicans and Democrats alike want Congress to lower prescription drug prices. It remains a top priority for Americans. More than nine in ten (92 percent) say it is very important (94 percent of Democrats and 89 percent of Republicans).
    • Republicans and Democrats alike want to ensure coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
    • And, people in both parties do not want to see cuts to Medicare (more than nine in ten Democrats (93 percent) and nearly eight in ten Republicans.) Republicans in Congress who are eyeing Medicare cuts as a way to address the deficit should take note.

    The mid-December poll surveyed 1,013 adults.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Guaranteeing coverage to people with pre-existing conditions critical to most voters

    Guaranteeing coverage to people with pre-existing conditions critical to most voters

    According to a new Kaiser survey, a majority of voters say that a federal candidate’s position on pre-existing conditions is an important factor in their 2018 vote. Voters care more about this than they care about repealing the Affordable Care Act or passing legislation to bring down drug prices and a range of other issues. Another recent study showed that candidates’ position on health care costs is also important to voters.

    It’s not clear that there is a single Republican running for Congress who supports the provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires health insurance companies to enroll people with pre-existing conditions and to charge them the same premium as everyone else. Indeed, the vast majority of Republicans want to repeal the ACA, including this provision. (N.B. A majority of voters also believe that President Trump is trying to make the ACA fail; it protects people with pre-existing conditions.)

    Before the ACA was enacted, health insurers had the power under federal law to deny coverage to anyone with a pre-existing condition. Or, they could offer coverage but refuse to cover services related to the pre-existing condition. And, if they enrolled people with pre-existing conditions, they could raise their premiums.

    In this survey, Kaiser did not ask about the importance to voters of federal candidates’ positions on reining in health care costs, which has been a top priority, along with reining in drug costs, for several years now.

    If you agree that health insurers should be required to enroll anyone who applies to enroll regardless of their health status, make sure you vote for candidates who support protecting people with pre-existing conditions. And, if you want Congress to improve and expand Medicare, so that everyone in America is guaranteed health coverage throughout their lives, without the burden of premiums, deductibles and copays, let your members of Congress know. Sign this petition. Today, 63 percent of the public supports improved Medicare for All. 

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