Graham-Cassidy is worse than anything we've seen
FYI: Graham-Cassidy is worse than anything we've seen
by digby
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2017/09/fyi-graham-cassidy-is-worse-than.html
Most people don't seem to be taking this very seriously and think this is a ploy by Democrats to fund raise. Let's hope they're right.
Friday afternoon, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer sent a warning on Twitter that the tens of thousands of Americans who could die if Trumpcare becomes law are not out of the woods yet.
The bill Schumer refers to is a proposal by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), which couples steep cuts to federal health care spending with an overhaul of much of the nation’s health care system. According to an analysis shared by Andy Slavitt, who ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama, an estimated 32 million people could lose health coverage by the end of the decade if Graham-Cassidy becomes law.
At the core of Graham-Cassidy are provisions that repeal Obamacare tax credits for middle-income individuals, certain other subsidies for lower-income Americans, and the law’s Medicaid expansion. It replaces all of these provisions with a block grant that is smaller than the total amount of the money it takes away. The block grant then expires in 2027, causing health care spending to fall off a cliff .
Additionally, the bill allows states receiving these block grants to waive certain federal laws that protect health insurance consumers — primarily laws which were enacted during the Obama administration. One of those provisions allows for an especially sweeping waiver, requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive:
Any provision that prevents a health insurance issuer offering a coverage plan in the individual or small group market from requiring an individual to pay a premium or contribution (as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment under the plan) which is greater than such premium or contribution for a similarly situated individual enrolled in the plan on the basis of any health status-related factor in relation to the individual or to an individual enrolled under the plan as a dependent of the individual.
To translate this a bit, currently the Affordable Care Act forbids insurers from discriminating against sick patients by denying them coverage or charging them higher premiums. Graham-Cassidy, however, wouldn’t simply allow waivers of Obamacare’s protections for people with preexisting conditions. It would also permit insurers to charge higher premiums to people who are currently insured through the Obamacare exchanges as a condition of “continued enrollment.”
In essence, an insurer could take someone’s money for years while that individual is healthy. Then, on the day that that person is diagnosed with cancer, jack up their premiums so high that they are no longer affordable. Healthy people would have insurance until the moment they need it, at which point their premiums could become prohibitively expensive.
Health “insurance” under Graham-Cassidy, in other words, would no longer provide any real insurance whatsoever.
They may be thwarted this time but I hope people realize that they will never quit. Never.
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To translate this a bit, currently the Affordable Care Act forbids insurers from discriminating against sick patients by denying them coverage or charging them higher premiums. Graham-Cassidy, however, wouldn’t simply allow waivers of Obamacare’s protections for people with preexisting conditions. It would also permit insurers to charge higher premiums to people who are currently insured through the Obamacare exchanges as a condition of “continued enrollment.”
In essence, an insurer could take someone’s money for years while that individual is healthy. Then, on the day that that person is diagnosed with cancer, jack up their premiums so high that they are no longer affordable. Healthy people would have insurance until the moment they need it, at which point their premiums could become prohibitively expensive.
Health “insurance” under Graham-Cassidy, in other words, would no longer provide any real insurance whatsoever.
Comment removed for CoC violation [ph]
According to this article, this is a provision of Graham-Cassidy that allows states to waiver
Any provision that prevents a health insurance issuer offering a coverage plan in the individual or small group market from requiring an individual to pay a premium or contribution (as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment under the plan) which is greater than such premium or contribution for a similarly situated individual enrolled in the plan on the basis of any health status-related factor in relation to the individual or to an individual enrolled under the plan as a dependent of the individual.
This would seem to indicate that insurance companies could hike prices on people after they got sick. I await Lindsey Graham straightening this out.
Nobody is willing to address the real problem.
I've been watching a series on Netflix called Adam Ruins Everything. Being naturally cynical, I was attracted to the premise of this series, which is to fill people in on the reality of the world around them. It's comical, a little smarmy, but actually pretty informative. In the episode this clip was taken from, the truth that everyone knows but is unwilling to confront is exposed.