Pre-existing coverage must stay in ACA reform

Very soon, Congress will be looking at a new version of the American Health Care Act, the "replace" portion of the push to replace the ACA.

The so-called "MacArthur amendment" is designed to appease some of the Freedom Caucus by allowing states to waive the community rating provision. This means that while insurers will still have to technically offer insurance to those with pre-existing conditions, they can charge significantly higher rates for them. What this will do in practice is to give the illusion of covering pre-existing conditions, but will price people completely out of the market by charging premiums so high that no one could afford them.

Some suggest high risk pools could cover these people, but these pools have proved to be a loser in all 33 states where they existed, losing a total of $2 billion the year before the ACA eliminated them.

Tell Reps. Hultgren and Roskam that those with pre-existing conditions must retain the benefits of the ACA.

Suzanne Hoban

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