Poliquins son could see premium hike for pre-existing condition

[jpak]

Source: Kennebec Journal

In the debate over replacing the Affordable Care Act, Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine, R-2nd District, brought up his asthmatic adult son, Sammy, and the importance of protecting people with pre-existing conditions.

“My own son has an asthma condition, a pre-existing condition,” Poliquin said in a statement Thursday. “I’ve seen health care up close. We need to do the best job we possibly can when it comes to health care so Maine people get the care they need.”

But the American Health Care Act – the Republican House bill approved 217-213 Thursday – would result in millions losing health care coverage, and it undermines protections for pre-existing conditions.

The act also exempts Congress and congressional staff members from the provisions that weaken pre-existing conditions, effectively shielding them from the kinds of risks to which their constituents are exposed.

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Read more: http://www.centralmaine.com/2017/05/05/pre-existing-conditions-under-threat-by-house-aca-replacement-bill/

[dalton99a]

1. Well, people in Maine should be rich like him

[DK504]

2. So why the fuck did you vote for this "Culling of America" Bill?

“My own son has an asthma condition, a pre-existing condition,” Poliquin said in a statement Thursday. “I’ve seen health care up close. We need to do the best job we possibly can when it comes to health care so Maine people get the care they need.”

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

10. Republicans think lip service is good enough.

The technique is to say what people what to hear and then vote the opposite. Just like Trump, he says what people what to hear and then does the opposite.

This asshole is my congressman. I voted for Emily Cain, the D, both times. It's too bad that the majority of second district Mainers are stupid shits. They vote Republican because it is their team, just like they support the Pats every year. There seems to be no more thought that goes into it. It seems like things have to get pretty bad before they'll consider abandoning their team.

[CakeGrrl]

13. Because Congress exempted themselves - it won't hurt him and his son.

All the rest was a lie that sounded good to his constituents.

[neeksgeek]

3. Well, according to Mo Brooks, it's all his son's fault. n/t

[flotsam]

4. The "Child" turns 27 in November...

...just so you don't picture the suffering toddler he implies...

[EleanorR]

6. watching your child suffocate

Watching your child suffocate is easier when your child is 27?

[flotsam]

8. The guy is a multi-millionaire with an adult child

And he is presenting himself as Bob Crachit and his son as Tiny Tim when in fact even if Trump could sign the bill today his son would time-out of coverage under his father's policy long before the rules took effect. Additionally he is playing the "me too" card implying that the out of pocket for his kids meds hurt him as much as it does a person with an average income. It doesn't.

[hatrack]

14. He's already rich, has Congressional coverage, but his son is now a human shield

Pantload.

[Hekate]

11. Obamacare covered adult kids up to age 26 under their parents' plans...

...so he's about to be on his own.

How did daddy vote, again?

[Mr. Evil]

5. These asshat republicans are just too fucking stupid.

If people are afforded decent, easier to access healthcare the healthier they are. The healthier they are the more productive they are. The more productive they are the more money they and their employers make. The more money they and their employers make the more they can spend on shit. The more they spend on shit the better the economy gets.
I just can't figure out why this is so hard to understand. Unless, of course, you factor in the free money gravy train of health insurance corporations that are what they are really tasked with protecting. They are nothing but legal skim operations and they will stop at nothing to keep raising premiums and deny benefits to increase their take. This shit show is not about healthcare at all. It's simply about protecting the money another free handout to the super rich.

[Stuart G]

7. Look at the surcharges ..for pre-existing conditions..........(3rd paragraph)

this information is taken from the article in the OP.

Critics, however, maintain that the new House bill allows insurers to raise rates on people with pre-existing conditions to the point where they will not be affordable. They say that even with the addition of the $8 billion, the national pool would cover only a fraction of people who have pre-existing conditions and are purchasing coverage in the individual marketplace.

How many states will choose to opt out of pre-existing conditions standards and create some sort of risk pool is unclear, but if insurance companies were allowed to charge for pre-existing conditions, patients who had those conditions would be paying thousands more per year on their premiums – even with a subsidy.

The Center for American Progress, a left-leaning Washington think tank, estimated that someone with asthma would pay a $4,200 per year surcharge, $17,000 for pregnancy, $26,000 for rheumatoid arthritis and $140,500 for cancer.

“If you have to pay $100,000 for your premium, that’s not really access to health care,” said Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent.

An Avalere Health study released Thursday revealed that a high-risk pool set up by the AHCA would not come close to having enough funding to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

“If you can charge sick people whatever you want, that’s effectively denying people coverage,” Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute, told Consumer Reports this week.

Members of Congress and their staff would be exempt from the pre-existing condition surcharges if the AHCA is approved, and the bill that would undo the congressional exemptions fails.

[Javaman]

9. buried deep in the repuke by-laws...

"it's only a problem if it effects you personally, if not, the rest can fuck off".

[Hekate]

12. The only way GOPers learn is when it happens to them personally, like having a gay kid...

I know they have specifically made sure that they and their immediate families have gold-plated health care coverage. But did they keep coverage for their kids up to age 26?

So here is my 2017 wish for every GOP Senator and Congresscritter: May your nearest and dearest find they are uninsurable. Your young adult kids. Your elderly mom and dad. Your favorite cousins and aunts and uncles. Your infant grandchildren.

I'm looking at you, Lady Congresswoman. Yes, you, the one who bounced out of the pre-vote meeting crowing "We're going to GUT Obamacare!" adding "It's like Braveheart!"