Before Obamacare, pre-existing conditions were a small, fixable problem. Obamacare whacks them.
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In February 2013, the Obama administration whacked people with pre-existing conditions even more by suspending the cap on out-of-pocket expenses, originally set at $6,350, for an individual beginning on Jan. 1, 2014. Theodore M. Thompson, vice president of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said, “The promise of out-of-pocket limits was one of the main reasons we supported health care reform.”
Without the cap, an MS patient on Copaxone, which costs $6,000 a month, will have to spend about $1,500 to $2,000 every month for the copay on that one drug alone. Unaffordable for many.
Before the Affordable Care Act, nine out of every 10 patients with pre-existing conditions had coverage. They got it through an employer-provided plan, Medicare or Medicaid without discrimination. Only the individual insurance market allowed insurers to charge sick people more or turn them away, and even in that market, most got covered. Nationwide, only 2 million to 4 million people with health problems needed help getting insurance. That’s about 1 percent of the population — a small, fixable problem.
Obamacare will make it bigger. As millions lose on-the-job coverage this year or next and get pushed into Obamacare, those with pre-existing illnesses will have the same difficulty getting care as the patients in the television ads. It’s no lie.
http://www.rightwingnews.com/column-2/the-real-story-behind-what-harry-reid-calls-lies/ |
