What Repealing Health Care Reform Really Means

According to a new study from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act could leave as many as 129 million Americans unable to find affordable insurance options due to preexisting conditions.

As Congressional Republicans plan a vote on Wednesday to repeal health care reform and begin a two year long strategy of sabotaging its implementation, a piece in the Washington Post today reminds us why health care reform is so important for the financial well being of working Americans.

According to a study released by the Department of Health and Human Services today, 1 in 5 non-elderly Americans has a preexisting condition that would leave them unable to buy insurance if they lost their current coverage. The study also found that half of all non-elderly Americans, 129 million, can expect to be excluded from coverage or be charged higher premiums on the individual insurance market. Conditions that can result in exclusion from coverage or higher prices range from cancer to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure according to the study.

On top of all the other benefits documented on this blog that Americans have already received or can expect to receive that will be taken away by a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, this is the most outrageous. Congressional Republican, by voting for this repeal bill, are voting to give large health insurance companies back the power to deny you coverage if they can find an old preexisting condition in your medical file.

This includes a Florida woman whose insurance company retroactively dropped her coverage immediately after a $15,000 surgery because of a single note in her medical file.  

This includes a rape victim who found herself uninsurable because her doctor prescribed anti-AIDS medication as a precaution after her assault.

This means denying coverage to construction workers, firefighters, cops, expectant dads and a whole host of other uninsurable "conditions."

Any politicians that votes for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act should have a plan to address these injustices. Unfortunately the Republican Party doesn't seem to be up to the task.  You can read here about the Republican Party's non-existent plan to help those with preexisting conditions.

-- Washington Post / Politico / CWA Health Care Blog / CWA Health Care Blog / MSNBC / Huffington Post / Think Progress / The New Republic