Vance signals new troubles for those with pre-existing conditions

[LetMyPeopleVote]

If you think Americans with pre-existing conditions should pay more for coverage, you’ll love the Trump/Vance approach to health care “reform.”

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/vance-signals-new-troubles-preexisting-conditions-rcna171442

After nearly a decade of Donald Trump promising — and failing — to unveil an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, the Republican nominee was asked at least week’s debate, “Just a yes or no: You still do not have a plan?” The former president replied, “I have concepts of a plan.”....

The good news is, his running mate offered some answers. The bad news is, JD Vance’s answers were dreadful.....

But the problem wasn’t just Vance’s willingness to tell bald-faced, easily debunked lies on national television. Eventually, the Ohioan managed to say something interesting about his running mate’s policy goals. From the “Meet the Press” transcript:

“What [former] President Trump’s health care plan is, is actually quite straightforward, is you want to make sure that pre-existing coverage — conditions are covered, you want to make sure that people have access to the doctors that they need, and you also want to implement some deregulatory agenda so that people can choose a health care plan that fits them.”

The Republican vice presidential nominee added that, under Trump’s preferred model, Americans wouldn’t be put “into the same risk pools.” To bolster his point, Vance added that “a young American doesn’t have the same health care needs as a 65-year-old American.”

I realize this might seem a little wonky, but Vance was actually sketching out a vision in which people with pre-existing conditions will be much worse off under Trump.....

States had high-risk pools to cover people with expensive health care needs — people with pre-existing conditions, for example — keeping them out of the patient pools with younger and healthier people. The high-risk pools, however, created dramatic problems for those who needed the most help: Americans with pre-existing conditions were stuck with plans they couldn’t afford and benefits that didn’t meet their needs.

The ACA fixed all of this. According to Vance, Trump wants to roll back the clock.

As James Surowiecki explained after the senator’s on-air comments, “In place of the risk-sharing that’s the foundation of Obamacare, Vance’s health care plan would help the young and healthy at the expense of the old and sick.”

It’s a detail voters can and should be aware of as Election Day draws nearer.

[SheltieLover]

1. Who the hell doesn't have some sort of pre-existing condition with the types of food available to many of us?

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. JD's pre-existing condition?....He was born!

Thus he should be forced to pay more for health coverage.

End of story, JD! You can pick your friends, you just can't pick your parents!

[RobinA]

3. Shouldn't A Guy

with an Ivy League finance degree know how insurance works? No, not the license to print money part, the spreading risk part.

[keep_left]

4. He's apparently never heard of "adverse selection"--basically Econ101.

It's essentially the reason we passed the ACA ( "Obamacare" ) in the first place.

[Ms. Toad]

5. I don't doubt that they would love to removed the mandatory coverage for people with pre-existing conditions -

But what Vance said, at least in this article, is limited toAGE - and the ACA already permits seniors to be charged 3x what younger folks are charged. This is NOT a change from the ACA.

Yet another instance of sloppy reporting. (Yes, I know it is Rachel doing the reporting - but if he actually said something about pre-existing conditions, she should point that out - rather than bootstrapping pre-existing conditions onto a provision under the existing ACA: Age (and smoking) differentials which are permitted).