Wednesday, March 1, 2017

U.S. Rep. McSally Says She Supports Protecting Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions in Obamacare Replacement

Posted By on Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 12:30 PM

There are a bunch of knots for the GOP Congress to untangle as they work toward repealing, replacing or reforming the Affordable Care Act. Among them: How to deal with the Medicaid expansion that helped low-income Americans get health insurance (at least in states that accepted the Medicaid dollars from Washington); whether to continue the subsidies that helped middle-class Americans afford health care policies on the online marketplace exchanges; whether to require Americans to purchase health insurance; and whether to continue to prohibit insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions.

While the reform is being hashed out behind closed doors, the Congressional Budget Office did score the repeal proposal that Republicans had pushed in 2015. Under that proposal, Under that proposal, the number of uninsured Americans without insurance was projected to increase in the first year by 18 million and by 23 million by 2026. Also, premiums for people purchasing insurance in the online marketplace or through private insurers would increase by 20 to 25 percent, which doesn't exactly help everyone get insurance or lower prices. So it's little wonder that the GOP is trying to come up with a new plan, though there's a lot of disagreement how it will work. (NY Mag's Jonathan Chait has a pretty good rundown on the challenges here.)

More than nine out of 10 Americans believe that insurance companies should not be able to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, according to a January GS Strategies poll.

So where is U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ02), who supports repealing the Affordable Care Act, on the question? Her spokesman, Patrick Ptak, tells the Weekly:

Rep. McSally is committed to ensuring that individuals with pre-existing conditions have access to affordable coverage options and cannot be denied health insurance. She will work to ensure the House reform package includes these protections.


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