This past week, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) or more popularly known as Trumpcare. The creator of the bill is Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. The goal of the bill is to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare. Many Republicans, including Donald Trump, utilized the AHCA as one of the pillars for their campaigns. They promised their supporters that the AHCA would be cheaper and better than Obamacare.
Pre-Existing Health Conditions
The bill will unfortunately not fulfill the Republicans promises to their supporters. If passed through the Senate, Obamacare will be repealed and replaced, but it is not going to be better for a good part of America. One of the main beneficiaries from Obamacare was those with pre-existing conditions. The ACA prevented healthcare companies from denying or raising the cost of healthcare plans based on pre-existing conditions. With how high the cost of medical care in America is, people with preconditions were able to live with a greater peace of mind because they were getting help with things such as medical bills and prescription costs needed to handle their conditions.
Trumpcare will reverse the situation for those with pre-existing conditions that were covered by Obamacare. These conditions will still be covered, but the power has once again shifted in favor of the healthcare providers. Under Trumpcare, healthcare providers will be able to charge those with pre-existing conditions to higher premiums. The goal of Obamacare was to make healthcare more affordable. By eliminating the ban on higher premiums for those with pre-existing conditions, healthcare is no longer affordable for these groups of people. Unaffordable insurance basically means no insurance for those with low incomes. The spiraling effect ends with people who have pre-existing conditions being hurt economically due to the high medical bills they will have to pay.
What to do
The list includes conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s which are, for the most part, hard to prevent and expensive to treat.
If you or somebody you know is going to be negatively impacted, then do something. The bill still has to be revised and approved by the Senate. Find the contact information for your senator and let him or her know that you disagree with the bill. If your District Representative broke their promise of providing something better than Obamacare and supported Trumpcare, then you should prepare to vote them out in their next election season.
Trumpcare will impact more than just those with preconditions. People with Obamacare could potentially face higher premiums due to less subsidies like older Americans who benefited from the expansion of Medicaid and Medicare. Trumpcare will put those who are already disadvantaged in an even worse situation.
