Ted Cruz Amendment Would Have Dire Consequences For 1.5 Million With Pre-Existing Conditions
If Ted Cruz’s amendment to the GOP health bill becomes law, there are 1.5 million Americans with pre-existing conditions that will pay a big price.
According to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 1.5 million people with pre-existing conditions would face significantly higher health insurance premiums under the Cruz amendment.
The proposed amendment would essentially let insurers sell plans that don’t meet Obamacare requirements as long as they also sell plans that do. Obamacare has significant protections for patients and people with pre-existing conditions.
Cruz claims that the amendment would allow insurers to offer some plans at a lower cost. However, that decrease in cost comes at the expense of benefits. It would also lead to the issue of isolating people with pre-existing conditions into de facto high-risk pools.
“The ACA-compliant plans would effectively become a high-risk pool, attracting enrollees when they need costly health benefits — such as maternity care, or drugs to treat cancer or HIV, or therapies to treat mental health and substance abuse disorders — and those with pre-existing conditions who are turned down by non-compliant plans or charged high premiums based on their health,” the Kaiser report found.
Republicans are struggling to revive their Obamacare repeal bill after the Congression Budget Office released its analysis finding that 22 million people would lose insurance if the GOP bill became law.
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