South Carolina Healthcare Voices

One Year Later:
What if Congress Had Repealed the Affordable Care Act?

For too long, too many hard working Americans paid the price for policies that handed free rein to insurance companies with few protections for patients or providers. Nearly two years ago, President Obama signed health reform – the Affordable Care Act – into law. The law gives hard working families the security they deserve, makes insurance more affordable, ends the worst insurance company abuses and makes preventive care free for millions of Americans and everyone enrolled in Medicare.

One year ago yesterday, on January 19, 2011, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the law, and take us back to the days when insurance companies had the power to decide what care residents of the United States could receive – allowing them to once again deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, cancel coverage when people get sick, and place lifetime or low annual dollar limits on the amount of care people can get, even if they need it. What’s more, without the law, insurance companies could overcharge for insurance just to boost their profits.

Here are some of the statistics about what would have happened if Congressional Republicans had succeeded in repealing the Affordable Care Act:

• 2.5 Million More Uninsured Young Adults. – 2.5 million young adults have been able to stay on their parent’s health insurance thanks to health reform.

• 2.65 Million Seniors Pay $1.5 Billion More for Prescription Drugs. The Affordable Care Act provides a 50 percent discount on covered brand name prescription drugs for seniors and people with disabilities who hit the donut hole. This discount has saved 2.65 million seniors more than $1.5 billion through October 2011.

• 24.2 Million Seniors Pay More for Preventive Care. The Affordable Care Act makes preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies free for everyone with Medicare. Through November 2011, 24.2 million seniors have received free preventive services.

• 45,000 Americans With Pre-Existing Conditions Remain Uninsured. As of November 2011, the Affordable Care Act’s Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan has provided insurance to 45,000 Americans who have been locked out of the insurance marketplace because of a pre-existing condition.

• Insurance Companies Free to Cap Care for 102 Million Americans. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies cannot drop your care when you get sick, or place a lifetime limit on your care. Today, the 102 million Americans whose health plan included lifetime dollar limits have seen their coverage expanded.

• Insurance Companies Free to Drop Coverage for up to 15 Million Americans. The Affordable Care Act finally put an end to one of the most abusive practices of the insurance industry: retroactively canceling coverage for a sick patient based on an unintentional mistake in their paperwork. Before the health care law was signed, most of the 15 million people purchasing coverage in the individual market were vulnerable to this policy. Rescission often leaves people suddenly responsible for past expenses and with no coverage to pay for needed care.

• 41 Million Pay More for Preventive Care. Approximately 41 million Americans are now enrolled in health insurance plans that must provide preventive services without cost sharing thanks to health reform. (more…)

Filed under: Affordable Care Act, doughnut hole, Medicaid, Medicare, presciption drugs | Tagged: accountability, anniversary, cap, Congress, donut hole, insurance companies, Obamacare, Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, pre-existing conditions, preventative health care, repeal, Republicans, rescission | Leave a Comment »