The pseudonym "Philo Vaihinger" has been abandoned. All posts have been and are written by me, Joseph Auclair.

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Trump, faithful to the GOP's health care motto: "Let them die!"

Making America great, again.

Trump Administration Move Imperils Pre-Existing Condition Protections

The Trump administration's decision to abandon the Affordable Care Act in an ongoing court challenge could affect some of the most popular pillars of the law — further intensifying the fight over health care in the middle of an election year.

It is unusual for the Justice Department to refuse to defend existing law in court challenges. 

In this case, 20 states sued the federal government in February claiming the individual mandate is unconstitutional after Congress zeroed out the tax penalty for not having health insurance in its 2017 tax cut law. 

The lawsuit, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, contends that without an individual mandate, the entirety of the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare, is unconstitutional.

If that argument prevails in the courts, it would render unconstitutional Obamacare provisions that ban insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions — arguably the most popular component of the 2010 health care law.

As many as 130 million adults under age 65 in the U.S. have pre-existing conditions that could result in their not being able to get insurance coverage in the private market, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. 

The Kaiser Family Foundation puts the number at about a quarter of the country's under-65 population. 

A Kaiser tracking poll in June 2017 showed 70 percent of adults want Congress to keep pre-existing condition protections.

Before the Affordable Care Act became law, insurance companies routinely declined health insurance coverage to people who had ongoing medical conditions or recent illnesses. 

Even when insurers offered policies to those with health problems, they often excluded those illnesses.

And insurance companies could cancel coverage for people who became ill once the policy year ended.

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