Election Day is this Tuesday, November 6
In this year’s midterm elections, there is a life-and-death issue on the ballot. No, it’s not the “caravan,” despite what Republicans and some in the media might have you believe. The life-and-death issue that we’re voting on this Tuesday (or before, if you have early voting) is healthcare.
In particular, the Affordable Care Act and its preexisting conditions coverage is on the line. There’s a lot of confusion about the ACA and preexisting conditions, but the reality is pretty simple: the 2010 ACA, based on the conservative Heritage Foundation plan and implemented first by Republican Governor Willard Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, is essentially a grand trade-off: Americans got a number of healthcare protections, including coverage of preexisting conditions at non-discriminatory prices, coverage of a comprehensive list of “essential health benefits” (meaning no more junk plans that were cheap but didn’t cover anything), removal of lifetime coverage caps, free annual preventive exams and the ability of young people to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. In return, since all these protections cost the insurance companies a lot more, the companies got a guarantee of millions more customers, many of them younger people with few or no healthcare claims, via mandatory enrollment. It’s a delicate balance, and those protections can’t be provided under the current system without those extra paying customers.
Moreover, that “non-discriminatory prices” part of preexisting conditions coverage is the key. It means you can’t be charged more solely for having one, two, three or more medical conditions, past or present. The list of such potential conditions is very long, from asthma to diabetes to cancer to high blood pressure and much more. An astronomical 102 million Americans have preexisting conditions, and of course that number increases with age. Currently (under the ACA), when you apply for healthcare coverage, the application doesn’t even ask about preexisting conditions. That’s a far cry from what we had under BushCare, where healthcare applicants were required to list not only their preexisting conditions, but also the specifics about all their doctor visits going back years. The purpose was that the health insurance companies could then either deny your coverage outright, or accept you but “uprate” you, meaning charging a lot more, for every medical condition you had or have. The result was that tens of millions of Americans could not obtain or afford healthcare insurance, and medical costs were responsible for the majority of personal bankruptcies in America. Many Americans who couldn’t afford health insurance or medical care died early as a result.
That’s why when you hear Donald Trump and Republican politicians say they would repeal the ACA and its mandated enrollment requirement, yet still “cover preexisting conditions,” it’s a lie. What they mean is, at best, your conditions could be covered but not at the same price per the ACA. Instead, insurance companies would be free once again to “uprate” and charge exorbitant, discriminatory prices to those with any kind of medical condition. It would be akin to the Rolls-Royce dealer saying, “of course, everyone has access to a Rolls-Royce. All they have to do is come here and pay the full price to buy one.” Millions of Americans once again would be unable to afford coverage, and would either become poor and bankrupt purchasing health insurance, or would have to give it up completely, leading to progression of disease and early death. Health insurance, which millions of Americans need for their survival, would become a prohibitive luxury item, like a Rolls-Royce.
So when we say “vote like your life depends on it,” we mean Vote Blue, because only Democrats want to keep and strengthen the Affordable Care Act and its preexisting conditions coverage at non-discriminatory prices.
Photo by Maryland GovPics, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/ApgrDl
