A new analysis of the Graham-Cassidy health care proposal has found that the Republican bill contains a sneaky provision that guts coverage for preexisting conditions.
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According to the Center For Budget and Policy Priorities, “The revised Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal plan from Senators Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham, which is also backed by Senators Dean Heller and Ron Johnson, would give states broad waiver authority to eliminate the ACA’s core protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. These waivers would come on top of the proposal’s elimination of the ACA’s marketplace subsidies and Medicaid expansion, its radical restructuring of the rest of the Medicaid program, and its large cuts to total federal funding for health insurance coverage.”
The states could waive provisions that forbid insurance companies from charging people higher rates based on their health status and requirements that insurance companies cover essential benefits. Republicans are trying to backdoor a plan that raises insurance rates or take coverage away from the 130 million Americans who have preexisting conditions.
It all goes back to the same design flaw that exists in every Republican health care plan. The only way that Republicans can make coverage more affordable is by either kicking the most expensive people out of the insurance market or by making insurance more expensive for people who have preexisting conditions.
Thirty-two million people were already estimated to lose their health insurance under Graham-Cassidy because block granting the program would reduce the funds available to states to provide coverage. The situation will be direr if coverage for people with pre-existing conditions is no longer required.
Many on the left are acting like Obamacare has been saved. They need to be paying attention to Graham-Cassidy. A big push is coming before the end of September to get rid of Obamacare. The battle is not over. The final fight to protect the ACA is about to begin.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
