If Obamacare Requirement On Preexisting Conditions Is Rolled Back, 52 Million Could Be Uninsurable
Before the health law, insurers could deny coverage or charge higher rates based on an individual-plan applicant's health history. If that were true again today, 52 million Americans have a medical condition that could jeopardize their insurance, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)
The Washington Post:
Without Obamacare, 52 Million Americans Could Be Denied Insurance
One in four non-elderly adults has a medical condition, ranging from diabetes to pregnancy to severe obesity to arthritis, that would make them uninsurable under the health coverage rules that prevailed before the Affordable Care Act, according to a new study. (Johnson, 12/12)
Kaiser Health News:
Without ACA Guarantees, 52 Million Adults Could Have Trouble Buying Individual Plans
The researchers noted that a large share of those individuals likely get their insurance through their employers, which does not take into consideration prior health issues. But if the health law were repealed and those people lost their health insurance for any reason, they could face problems. (Rodriguez, 12/13)
McClatchy:
52 Million U.S. Adults Have A Medical Condition That Was Uninsurable Before Obamacare, New Study Finds
Some 52 million working-age adults have a pre-existing medical condition that would likely have left them unable to get health coverage before the Affordable Care Act, according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Millions of others with similar conditions would likely have faced higher premiums, coverage exclusions or coverage limitations because of stiff underwriting standards faced by people buying insurance outside the workplace before the health law was enacted. This individual insurance market had long been problematic for consumers. It was known for high customer dissatisfaction and turnover, high coverage denial rates, lean benefits and premiums subject to frequent increases. (Pugh, 12/12)
The Hill:
Study: 52M With Pre-Existing Conditions Could Be Denied Coverage Without ObamaCare
A new study finds that 27 percent of adults under 65 have pre-existing health conditions that could lead to them being denied coverage if ObamaCare were repealed. ObamaCare banned insurance companies from rejecting people because of their pre-existing health conditions, but the study released Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that if pre-ObamaCare rules returned, 52 million Americans could be denied coverage. (Sullivan, 12/12)
The CT Mirror:
522,000 CT Adults Have A Pre-Existing Condition, Analysis Says
Nearly one in four Connecticut adults has a health condition that probably would make them unable to buy insurance through the individual market without protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as those created by Obamacare, according to an analysis released Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Overall, 52.2 million American adults under 65 have pre-existing conditions that could make them uninsurable in the individual market, including 522,000 in Connecticut, the analysis found. The estimates offer a glimpse at the stakes as Republicans seek to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. (Levin Becker, 12/13)
And from another report --
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
More Than 550,000 Louisianians Could Lose Health Insurance Under Obamacare Repeal
A new report estimates as many as 558,000 people in Louisiana would lose health insurance if Republicans in Congress force a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and Louisiana would lose $1.9 billion in federal Medicaid funding. In many ways, the report offers a glimpse from the edge of an abyss: It assumes that a Republican-led Congress, with support from President-elect Donald Trump, would repeal the Affordable Care Act and fail to replace it with any meaningful health care policy. And while it's not clear that will happen, the report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities offers a dark reminder of what health care providers and patients stand to lose under an overhaul of key policy changes. (Litten, 12/12)
