In 2018 Democrats won by promising to protect Obamacare. On Tuesday, the Democratic-controlled House of Representative moved to make good on that promise. The Democrats’ bill aims to lower health insurance premiums, strengthen protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, and ban the sale of “junk insurance,” which the Trump Administration has authorized insurance companies to sell. These junk policies fail to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s original guidelines for benefit coverage.
The Democratic bill would reduce premiums by helping insurance companies pay the claims of high-cost patients. The measure would also expand the ACA’s tax credits, which help people pay for coverage, to more middle-income families and individuals and increase the size of the credits for everyone.
The bill would block insurance companies from selling non-ACA plans, reversing regulations of the Trump administration, which allowed plans that are cheaper but cover fewer benefits. And it would block the administration from approving requests from states looking to water down ObamaCare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions and its 10 requirements for what insurance companies must cover, such as maternity care and substance abuse treatment.
House Democrats said they would probably try to pass the legislative package piece by piece, with the first votes on the House floor expected in May. They hope to win some Republican support.
Meanwhile, the Trump Administration — over the objections of even AG Barr and HHS Secretary Azar — took the unprecedented step of filing a brief reversing the government’s position defending the ACA. Now, the federal government — on Trump’s orders — supports the radical Republican State Attorney Generals who are seeking to declare the entire ACA invalid. That would throw at least 20 million people off of health insurance and create a major disruption to the economy. Meanwhile, with no basis in fact, Trump declared ” “The Republican Party will soon be known as the party of health care, you watch.” More like the party that destroyed healthcare.
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