Republicans Finally Wrote a Health Bill Cruel Enough to Satisfy Conservatives
Republicans are still struggling to cobble together a plan to repeal Obamacare. Their latest proposals tacks hard to the right and would wipe away the core consumer protections in the Affordable Care Actincluding a de facto end of the laws' protections for people with preexisting medical conditions.
House conservatives, who helped sink last month's GOP health care bill, are celebrating the new plan. The right-wing Freedom Caucus announced its support Wednesday. But it could quickly go down in flames if moderates in the House balk at ending some of the most popular elements of Obamacare. And even if it does clear the House, it could be a nonstarter for Republicans in the Senate.
The proposal, written by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) and obtained by Politico, would allow states to opt out of two central elements of Obamacare: the provisions know as essential benefits and community rating. The first part of thatessential benefitsis pretty simple. Before Obamacare's passage, purchasing insurance on the individual market could be extremely difficult; someone might buy a health plan only to later realize it didn't cover basics, such as in-patient care or emergency room visits. Obamacare fixed that problem by requiring insurers to cover a range of basic services.
Community rating, meanwhile, is a key component of Obamacare's protections for people with preexisting conditions. Prior to Obamacare, insurance companies would jack up prices for people with any sort of know medical condition, meaning that coverage was often unaffordable for the people who needed it most. The Obamacare community rating provision forces insurance companies to offer everyone in a certain area the same insurance at the same price (with a few exceptions, such as age and tobacco use). Under the latest GOP proposal, insurance companies in states that opt out of community rating would still technically have to offer policies to people with preexisting conditionsbut they could charge these people sky-high rates that would essentially force them out of their plans.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/republicans-health-care-preexisting-conditions