Albany
Herald (GA) June 12, 2018
June 11--SMYRNA -- Joy Kramer was diagnosed with lymphoma
13 years ago. She recovered a year later, and remains cancer-free today at 59.
But for years after her treatment, Kramer fought to get
affordable insurance. Her premiums and deductibles soared because of her
pre-existing medical condition. For a while she gave up, going uninsured for
several months.
The Affordable Care Act drastically changed things.
First Kramer qualified for a Pre-Existing Condition
Insurance Plan that lowered the cost of her coverage. Then in 2014 came the
full implementation of the ACA, which prohibited insurers from denying coverage
or charging higher premiums to consumers with pre-existing health conditions.
Kramer, a Smyrna marketing consultant, signed up for the
state's insurance exchange.
"I felt like a weight had been lifted," she
recalls.
Now a lawsuit threatens to return Kramer and millions of
others with health conditions to that pre-ACA insurance jungle.
Twenty states, including Georgia, are challenging the ACA
and its constitutionality in court. Last week, in reference to that suit, the
Trump administration told a federal court in Texas that it would not defend
provisions in the ACA that protect people with pre-existing medical conditions.
The Justice Department argued that the pre-existing
condition protections for consumers cannot be separated from the unpopular
requirement that most Americans obtain insurance. But since Congress repealed
the tax penalty tied to that insurance mandate, that requirement and the law's
consumer protections can no longer be constitutional, the Justice Department
said.
The three-page letter from Attorney General Jeff Sessions related
to the lawsuit begins by saying that Justice adopted its position "with
the approval of the President of the United States." The letter notes that
it is not standard practice for a presidential administration to decline to
defend a law, but that it is sometimes done.
The Trump administration's argument comes despite the
continuing popularity of the pre-existing condition rules.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll a year ago found that
seven in 10 Americans said the federal government should continue to prohibit
health insurance companies from charging individuals with pre-existing health
conditions more for their coverage. One-fourth (26 percent) said states should
be able to decide whether insurers can charge people with pre-existing
conditions more.
A majority of Democrats (84 percent), independents (68
percent), and Republicans (59 percent) want continued federal protection for
people with pre-existing conditions, according to the June 2017 poll.
Dropping those protections, Kramer said, "would be
very much a death sentence for a lot of people, just like before
Obamacare."
Georgia's attorney general, Chris Carr, joined the
multistate lawsuit in February.
"The Affordable Care Act's design was
constitutionally flawed at the outset," said Carr in a statement at the
time. "Our office has pushed back against this overt form of federal
overreach from the beginning, and we will continue to work with other states to
see that it is resolved in a way that protects the interests of our
citizens."
A definitive court ruling in the lawsuit could be months
away and appeals of any decision could take many more months, during which the
law is likely to stay in effect, the New York Times reported.
___
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Herald, Ga.
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