Conservatives Demand End to Pre-Existing Conditions Ban

[babylonsister]

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/03/conservatives-demand-end-pre-existing-conditions-ban







Conservatives Demand End to Pre-Existing Conditions Ban

Kevin Drum
Mar. 23, 2017 3:37 PM


I guess I was wrong last night. The New York Times says President Trump has caved into demands to repeal the minimum set of required benefits for health care insurance:

President Trump agreed to the demands of conservative House Republicans to remove federal requirements that health insurance plans provide a basic set of benefits like maternity care, emergency services, mental health and wellness visits as he struggles to round up enough votes to pass a broad health care overhaul.

But the Washington Post reports that this still wasn't enough:

Conservative House Republicans rebuffed an offer by President Trump on Thursday to strip a key set of mandates from the nation’s current health-care law, raising doubts about whether House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has the votes to pass the bill.

....Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), asked whether the White House had made its final negotiating offer, said that if that’s the case, “They’re not going to pass the bill.”...As of mid-afternoon Thursday, 37 House Republicans — mainly Freedom Caucus members — had announced their opposition to the bill, known as the American Health Care Act.

So what do conservatives want? Here's the Post again:

Conservative lawmakers have asked to eliminate much of [Obamacare’s] Title I, which....bars companies from setting insurance rates based on a person’s sex, medical condition, genetic condition or other factors.

In other words, insurers could charge you more if you have a pre-existing condition. That would effectively kill off the Obamacare provision that requires insurers to cover everyone who applies. They'd simply price policies out of reach for people with expensive pre-existing conditions and that would be that.

Would this pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian, who has to agree that repealing Title 1 "directly affects" the budget? I doubt it. Would Mike Pence go ahead and overrule her? Maybe. Is this whole thing a debacle beyond imagining? Oh yes.

POSTSCRIPT: It's worth pointing out that if Republicans go down this road, they've essentially killed the filibuster completely. Basically, they would have set a precedent that anything can be added to a reconciliation bill—which can't be filibustered—and the vice president will overrule the parliamentarian and declare that it's OK. At that point, the Senate can include reconciliation instructions for just about anything in its annual budget resolution. As long as the president and vice president are from the same party, they can then pass anything they want with 51 votes.

[beachbum bob]

1. the antidote is 2018...no full repeal will be enacted until 2018 or 2020

but medicaid cuts and attacks on medicare begins now....

conservatives know the outcome of 2018 right now....especially as all trumps campaign promises turn to lies and his approval rating hits 30-32%

they are toast.

[davekriss]

17. This "they are toast" confidence alarms me

We thought they were toast when they nominated Trump, and look at the outcome. Hell, the previous Republican President lied is into an illegal war but was "re-elected" in 2004 anyway.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. So - back to exactly where we were before the ACA,

and the conditions that led to the ACA in the first place.

[Afromania]

4. seems like it

I firmly believe that going through with this is going to lead to single payer. The health system is going to get ugly fast and there won't be time for a 2 year negotiation and slow roll out.

[Kimchijeon]

16. I don't think going through with this will lead to single payer. (I wish it would)

Simply because the health insurance industry is this powerful. They are the ones paying for these politicians, propaganda, etc. It's all on them. Even if millions die (and we will) they are so immensely powerful, I'm afraid we are stuck in third world status on healthcare coverage.

I would love to be wrong, and I hope that something, somehow, by some miracle or accident would lead to single payer. But they are slick and powerful and even people who are crushed with medical debt and dying for lack of care tend to be brainwashed into the propaganda that somehow "single payer is bad."

Granted, more and more people are waking up, but the healthcare industry gets whatever they want. That's the American way, big business pays to get their way, always.

[Afromania]

20. I think we're going to have to suffer from them passing this garbage first tho.

There will be no other option left. We'll have done half measures through the ACA, no measures with DonTcare. I mean what are they going to do, argue for the return of the ACA? Well, it's just my theory and I could be wrong. I am often enough

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. When the American people realize the GOP wants to kill them, this might change

Filthy fucking murderers.

[gratuitous]

5. It might change

But from my observation, it seems that if enough of "those people" die first, there are still a lot of folks who will vote Republican, even at the cost of their own lives.

[left-of-center2012]

6. I'm 70, with diabetes

I'm currently on a Medicare HMO advantage plan (Blue Cross/Blue Shield).

How would this affect me?

[Hoyt]

12. It wouldn't, unless GOPers start screwing with Medicare. In fact, with Diabetes, Medicare Advantage

plans get paid a little extra to manage your diabetes. I'm working now with insurance, but I had a Medicare Advantage plan for about a year. I liked it.

Might add that the repeal of Obamacare/ACA could impact the so-called donut hole under the Drug Plan because ACA helped close that gap. Elderly Trump supporters are probably too stupid to get that, though.

[dembotoz]

7. as they price treatment out of the marketplace, suicide becomes more attractive

the problem with suicide is it gets done in private and the gop can ignore the numbers....

perhaps outside a congressmans office or during the 4th of july parade would be better for more maximum impact

i have had conversations with a couple of folks who are thinking of a 38 as a treatment option....save the house and whats left of the finances....

don't know how serious they are...but i never heard these conversations before...function of getting older?
Does conversations about suicide happen as folks approach medicare?

just to set things straight, i do not need an intervention...my health is ok
but from what others say...with the potential repeal of obamacare and its replacement...these eyes have been opened a bit

[left-of-center2012]

15. "... suicide becomes more attractive"

Late at night, as I try to go to sleep, sometimes those thoughts are there.
Medical issues, housing issues, right wing evangelical brothers, etc.

[Boomerproud]

19. I know we at DU are no substitute for friends and family.

But please reach out to someone and let them know the pain you are in.

[sharp_stick]

8. I hate those pricks so much

The lack of any human decency is just astounding.

[Warpy]

9. Conservative declare war against American citizens

That's what it all boils down to: stripping us of our rights, blocking our ability to vote, and threatening our lives.

I hope the Dolt45 morass gets so wide and deep it wipes them all out. Oh, stupid ideas never die but I hope we can keep them out of government until we repair the damage they've done to us.

[coco22]

13. Bannon's plan working?

[renate]

10. people in more developed countries must look at us and wonder how we lived like this

They can't imagine what it's like to live in constant fear of medical bankruptcy or of a health condition that means we'll never be eligible for health insurance again. Even the ACA probably seemed pretty primitive to them.

They must be in utter disbelief that the bad old days may purposely be brought back again by politicians who are supposed to be working for their constituents, not against them.

[BREMPRO]

11. President Trump: Nobody Knew Health Care Could Be So Complicated

uh.. everyone who was paying attention or respects the long difficult debate and negotiations required with interest groups, house and senate members and American public opinion, that just barely passed the ACA after nearly a year of work after many previously failed attempts at health care reform.

[BlueStateLib]

14. Wait to you see what the GOP is going to do to SSDI

[roamer65]

18. That will hit the red state "base" pretty hard.

SSDI has taken the place of welfare in those states.