Something for Missourians and Kansans to consider when they consider the effects of the measure approved by the House to repeal and replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act:
Both states are among the 11 with the highest levels of adults under age 65 with pre-existing medical conditions, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Thirty percent of people living in both Kansas and Missouri have a pre-existing condition.
And as CNN’s Chris Cillizza reports, all 11 states were carried by President Donald Trump.
Which means, as Cillizza points out, “that many of the people most in favor of repealing and replacing Obamacare are also the people most likely to be directly affected – and not in a good way – if the new GOP bill becomes law.”
The bill passed by the House would allow states to opt out of requiring insurers to sell policies to people with pre-existing conditions and not charge them higher rates. Instead, states would be allowed to charge them higher premiums if they create so-called high-risk pools.
While the bill provides $138 billion over 10 years to help states defray the costs of those high-risk pools, most observers say that is far too little. Larry Levitt, a senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, says it would cost at least $25 billion a year.
Pre-ACA state high-risk pools had losses of $5,510/enrollee. In the federal pool, claims averaged $32,08/enrollee.https://t.co/FAaABlHAlP
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) May 3, 2017
A pair of conservative analysts, James C. Capretta and Tom Miller, say the federal government would need to provide $15 billion to $20 billion annually.
Dan Margolies is KCUR’s health editor. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
