With Obamacare repealed, 1 in 4 adults could be uninsurable due to a pre-existing condition
Source: CBS
At least one in four U.S. adults could be uninsurable due to a pre-existing condition in the wake of a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, according to an estimate by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation released Monday. Those adults, or about 52 million people, have a current or past diagnosis that could allow health insurers to refuse them health coverage, the Kaiser analysis found.
Most adults get health insurance through their employer or public programs and are thus shielded from this aspect of the health insurance industry. But others, including self-employed people, lower-wage workers, early retirees and those in need of coverage in-between life changes, seek coverage on the individual insurance market.
The vast majority of that 52 million population is covered through their employer or public programs, according to the Kaiser report. But if any of those people lost insurance because of unemployment, divorce, turning 26 or another reason, their pre-existing condition would become an even bigger problem.
The scope of what has been considered a pre-existing condition can be shocking. Before the ACA, excludable pre-existing conditions included people who had diabetes, obesity or mental disorders (including being bipolar or having an eating disorder) or had been treated for alcohol or drug abuse, the Kaiser report shows.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/healthcare/with-obamacare-repealed-1-in-4-adults-could-be-uninsurable-due-to-a-pre-existing-condition/ar-AAlt6qW?li=BBnbfcL
Of course, turning Medicaid into a block grant program will really hit many in the working class .
bucolic_frolic
(43,027 posts)voucherized with mandatory coverage - you must have health coverage and
you must pay the difference between voucher and insurance, and the insurance
will be like swiss cheese
Plundering everything you ever owned or put aside is just around the corner
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)I'm 'hoping' once the best Americans are done with the transition, we millions develop a Public Union for a real healthcare insurance 'group'.
spooky3
(34,401 posts)Also were excluded from some care due to pre-existing conditions. So the problem is even more widespread than the article states.
moonscape
(4,672 posts)biker/hiker, never a sick day outside of a cold, was denied private coverage after going per diem because ... she took blood pressure medication.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)sickening
Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)They were excluded, period, based on Jesse Helms' religious based amendment to the ADA (which was carried over boilerplate into insurance policies nationwide). And by that I mean they were denied things like coverage for a broken arm or other needs that had nothing to do with them being transgender.
xor
(1,204 posts)And not to mention the constant fear of them refusing to cover because after digging and digging they eventually found something that could be used to deny the coverage. Forget that!
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)I had insurance through work, but they just wouldn't pay for anything.
Grins
(7,189 posts)So give it to them!!! Kill Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare. All of it. And none of this 'exceptions for pre-existing conditions' crap either. It's all an economy-destroying "soshulist' plot to destroy our Freedumbs!!! anyway, so it has to go. No Hoverounds for you, you Marxist moochers!!! Get a damn job!
Being a modern day conservative means never having to live in reality, so let them the live the reality of their convictions/vote. Let them dine and rejoice in the frightening, depressing dystopian hellscape that only a modern conservative can love that - they voted for.
We know that it only hits home when it truly hits you. So let it fly. I now think it's the only way left to show the Reich-wingers what conservatism is truly about.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Let them buy their own, whatever system they come up with.
since they only have "repeal" but not the "replace," I guess we have no affordable health care so they shouldn't either.
adigal
(7,581 posts)And his mother and sisters all voted for Trump. I don't think his father did.
And this is on Staten Island, not some deep red state.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Maybe if they read this they can understand in black, white and $$$$$$$$ $ense.
"In December 2013, I was still getting tests for an illness that kept recurring, which was soon diagnosed as Stage 4 cancer. In the same time period, I was informed by my then private health insurance company, giving me 10 days' notice, they would no longer cover me. I was consulting with doctors, needing life-saving surgery, facing no health insurance in just days, and so sick I could no longer work.
Fortunately, Obamacare [a.k.a. Affordable Care Act (ACA)] was implemented that January and saved the day, and my life. The ACA is not perfect---far from it---but it saved me and has helped 22 million others. Now, however, it's in danger due to the results of the 2016 election, because both Donald Trump and the Republican Congress have vowed to "repeal and replace" it. They have no replacement plan yet, so they may just repeal now and replace later when they get a plan, however long that will take. That would bring us back to the bad old days before Obamacare.
If the ACA is repealed, an estimated one in four adults will likely become uninsurable due to coverage refusal to people with "pre-existing conditions." Such was the case before the ACA was implemented, but now people like me with such a problem are covered.
Nearly everyone's financial as well as physical health is at stake if the ACA is repealed. If one is uninsurable, he or she must pay out-of-pocket for all medical care needed. For those who have never experienced fantastical medical bills: my (one) surgery was billed at $175K; my 12 rounds of chemo at $250,000. This does not include costs for numerous tests, scans and doctor visits I have gone through in the past three years. The only people who won't be impacted by a repeal of the ACA are very wealthy people who don't care what things cost. The rest of us will be scrambling to pay medical bills out of pocket for either ourselves or family members who are uninsured.
If the ACA is repealed, many will have to liquidate assets and maybe sell a home or go bankrupt to pay medical bills. This is not some dystopian musing: we know this will be the result because it is exactly what uncovered sick people and their families went through before 2014.
The bottom line is we need to maintain and improve the ACA, not repeal and replace it. The life you save could be your own."