We will always and very strongly protect patients with pre-existing conditions, Mr. Trump said in his speech at the Republican National Convention. We will protect your pre-existing conditions, he said at a recent campaign rally in Las Vegas. In January, he went as far as to say he saved pre-existing conditions.
Yet despite a record to the contrary, these repeated statements seem to be having an impact. A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 84 percent of Republicans believe President Trump has a better approach for maintaining protections for people with pre-existing conditions. (Over all, 38 percent of American adults said they thought Mr. Trump had the better approach.)
Before Obamacare, Americans with a history of both serious and trivial diseases had trouble buying health insurance. Health plans could omit coverage for addiction, could charge customers higher prices because of a history of acne, or could simply decline to sell insurance altogether to someone whod had a cancer diagnosis. All of those practices were eliminated as part of Obamacare, which requires insurance companies to offer the same, comprehensive health plans to everyone in a geographic area, varying the prices based only on the customers age.
This provision has long been one of the Affordable Care Acts most popular features. Even when a majority of Americans disliked the law over all, most supported this part of it. Over time, as Obamacare has become more popular and more embattled, pre-existing-condition protections have become so popular that any politician who declines to support them is likely to pay a political price. In 2018, Democrats retook control of the House of Representatives, after campaigning heavily on pre-existing conditions as an issue.
I think its gotten to the point where every politician has to say theyre for protecting people with pre-existing conditions, said Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. And then the question is: How far are they wiling to go in providing those protections?read more
How Trump Hasn’t Protected Those With Pre-Existing Conditions
