As legislators bicker over Son of Obamacare, one of the bones of contention is insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, and of course, the expense of covering them. Obamacare had healthy people pay extra for their coverage so that the others would be covered, too. But there's another way, the old, pre-Obamacare way -- state sponsored high risk insurance pools. The cost was subsidized by taxpayers, not just the people who paid premiums for Obamacare insurance.
Before Obamacare became the law of the land the state of Texas had such a pool. Here's a passage from the Texas Health Pool About page:
The Texas Health Insurance Pool was created by the Texas Legislature to provide health insurance to eligible Texas residents who, due to medical conditions, are unable to obtain coverage from individual commercial insurers. The Pool also served as the Texas alternative mechanism for individual health insurance coverage, guaranteeing portability of coverage to qualified individuals who lost coverage under an employer group plan, church plan or state plan, as mandated by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
The Program served the State of Texas as an important "safety net" for individuals who had been denied health insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
So when we hear Jimmy Kimmel's heart wrenching tale about the anguish he felt about his newborn son's health, we are expected to get angry at Republicans because they are tinkering with Obamacare. Sorry. While I may be sympathetic, I'm not persuaded by the partisan politics on display there.
I don't know whether Kimmel lives in New York or California, but surely two of the blueist states had some form of insurance pool prior to Obamacare which Kimmel could have used prior to Obamacare. And he'll have something similar after Obamacare. Hearing a celebrity blame Republicans for every thing that did or could go wrong is getting tiresome. But Kimmel knows his audience and apparently doesn't mind alienating people who aren't in it.
Betsy McCaughey sums it up nicely:
There is a consensus that people with pre-existing conditions should be able to get insurance. The issue is who pays the hefty price tag. ObamaCare forced healthy buyers in the individual market to foot the entire bill. That's why their premiums have doubled since the law went into effect.
The new House bill sets up a fairer way: a $130 billion pot of money, federally funded, to pay for people with pre-existing conditions. The entire nation chips in, not just people stuck in the individual market.
Yes, it would work. But the biggest stumbling block is that it doesn't fit the narrative.
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11:08 AM 5/3/2017
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