Trumpcare Is Going To Hurt You Even If You Get Your Health Insurance At Work

If you thought you were safe from the perils of Trumpcare because you don’t have a preexisting condition and get your insurance from your employer, take a deep breath. Trumpcare offers a “backdoor way to gut” employer plans.

Many people think they are “safe” from Trumpcare because they have an employer-sponsored plan. This is not accurate. Half of all Americans are at risk due to Trumpcare, which House Republicans will be voting on shortly.

The Wall Street Journal noted, “Many people who obtain health insurance through their employers—about half of the country—could be at risk of losing protections that limit out-of-pocket costs for catastrophic illnesses, due to a little-noticed provision of the House Republican health-care bill to be considered Thursday, health-policy experts say.”

This is no small thing.

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“It’s huge,†Andy Slavitt, who ran Medicare, Medicaid & the ACA for President Obama, told the Wall Street Journal. “They’re creating a backdoor way to gut employer plans, too.â€

And “More than 100 million people get insurance through their employer,” Think Progress‘ Tara Culp-Ressler explained.

It’s not just the loss of the “essential health benefit†standards we got courtesy of President Obama’s Obamacare regulations (before that, if you don’t remember, the insurance companies could deny basic coverage).

Brookings broke it down, “Suppose that even one state secured a waiver that allowed it to drop maternity services, mental health services, or prescription drugs from the definition of essential health benefits—a plausible scenario since these services were commonly not covered in individual market plans prior to the ACA and since waivers would be easy to obtain. In this case, a large employer plan that wanted to impose an annual or lifetime on limit on these services could simply adopt that state’s definition of essential health benefits… In a more extreme, but still plausible, scenario in which even one state elected to completely eliminate its essential health benefit standards, the requirement to provide these protections would effectively disappear entirely for large employer plans nationwide.”

Citizens should be aware that “preexisting condition” will change as well. Under Trumpcare, being raped or abused is a preexisting condition and if you need treatment for that, well. That’s your problem. So is having a C-section or PPD. That’s just fine, I’m sure, for all of the conservatives who hate Obamacare and don’t realize that before Obamacare, rape was a preexisting condition.

For all of the people who hated Obamacare, they are about to find out what it really is and how they are actually using it and benefiting from it.

Donald Trump pushed Republicans to vote on his bill even though it hasn’t been scored by the CBO, there have been zero town halls on it, and there will be supposedly one hour of “debate” – compared to over a year of debate for Obamacare.

Not to worry, though, as Republicans are safe from their decisions for your healthcare. Yes, there’s a handy provision in Trumpcare that the new law won’t apply to Representatives and Senators. Which is perfect, because Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) arrived to Congress on a scooter after surgery on his way to vote for a bill that will deny you the same coverage he just used.

But once busted by Vox on this provision, Republicans claim that later, after they pass the version of Trumpcare that gives them Obamacare but gives the general public Trumpcare, they will be sure to fix this loophole…. in a later piece of legislation.

Also, perhaps a nice piece of land to sell you in Florida.

So Republicans are keeping Obamacare for themselves, but you all get Trumpcare. Which one do you think they think is better?

The only people who are sure to be safe from Trumpcare are the Republicans whose bill it is. Ironic, and predictable at this point.



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