Affordable Care Act gets more and more curious. President Barack Obama promised to protect those with preexisting conditions and help the uninsured. Yet these vulnerable groups are getting clobbered. Congress needs to show mercy and protect them now instead of waiting until the entire misadventure plays out. Here’s a plan of action.
One of the president’s biggest lies to sell Obamacare was claiming it would protect people with preexisting conditions. He even lied that his mother Stanley Anne Dunham, a cancer victim, suffered because her insurer used the preexisting-condition excuse to drop her. The truth, revealed in a 2011 biography, is that she had employer-provided insurance that paid her hospital bills until the end of her life. Since 1996, employer-provided plans have been barred from dropping or excluding anyone based on a preexisting condition. So is Medicare and Medicaid.
The problem of preexisting conditions affects about 2 million people in the individual market. The best options for sick people are being closed because of Obamacare. In 35 states, the sick have relied on high-risk pools, where premiums are subsidized to keep them within reach. But every high-risk pool is scheduled to close on Dec. 31, 2013, or shortly after, because the law directs ill patients to enroll in Obamacare exchange plans.
The problem is that most exchange plans severely limit choice of hospitals and doctors, excluding specialty hospitals such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. For a cancer patient in the middle of chemotherapy, being forced to change health plans and oncologists is a life-or-death issue.
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