Granger faces backlash over AHCA support

May 12--Since she voted to support the House version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), Congresswoman Kay Granger has been the focus of backlash from her some of her constituents.

"While this legislation is not perfect, I felt it was important to keep my promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act," Granger wrote in a May 5 statement.

In her statement, Granger wrote that implementation of high-risk pools would keep premiums down for those who "are at risk of being charged higher premiums because of their age or health status."

"High-risk pools offer non-group health coverage to those that are at risk of being charged higher premiums because of their age or health status," she wrote. "Those that qualify to enroll in a high-risk pool receive subsidized health plans that help keep their premiums down."

"Before the Affordable Care Act, Texas had one of the most successful high-risk pools in the nation and many of my constituents have asked for its return."

However, a recent study from the healthcare nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation indicated traditional high risk pools before the Affordable Care Act "tended to limit enrollment of eligible individuals."

"Although no two traditional state-high risk pools were identical, nearly all adopted certain common features that tended to limit enrollment of eligible individuals," according to the study.

Premiums above standard non-group market rates, pre-existing condition exclusions, lifetime and annual limits on covered services, high deductibles and inadequate funding were all features of high risk pools, according to Kaiser.

The $23 billion in funding included in the proposed AHCA for high-risk pools over the next 14 years is "definitely not enough," Kaiser spokesman Larry Levitt said in an April statement.

"Fifteen billion dollars over nine years [and $8 billion over the next five years] is definitely not enough to make a meaningful difference in premiums or market stability," he said.

Granger also described concerns about insurers being able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions as "misinformation."

"Under the American Health Care Act it is still illegal for an insurance provider to deny someone coverage solely because they have a pre-existing condition. This important protection was implemented under the Affordable Care Act, and I agree it needs to be maintained."

Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented, insurers could charge more or refuse to cover people with pre-existing conditions like asthma, diabetes or cancer.

The ACA prohibits insurers from refusing to cover or pricing out people with pre-existing conditions.

But the proposed AHCA would allow states to waive that requirement as long as they have another way to ensure people with pre-existing conditions -- putting those people into high-risk pools has been the solution offered by some Republican lawmakers who support the bill, including Granger.

When Granger posted her statement of support to her Congressional Facebook page, the majority of the 207 people who responded to the post marked their reaction as "angry," and sounded off in the comments section.

"To leave the coverage of pre-existing conditions up to the states using high risk pools is just horrible," Steven Morrell wrote. "I know you yourself will never have to deal with jumping through such hoops. I cannot fathom how anyone would say they'd rather be in a high risk pool instead of just getting covered like everyone else with a standard policy."

"Kay Granger, why should we read what your staff wrote? You obviously didn't bother to read the bill you voted for, or the people's comments blowing up your social media," Cory J. Shershun wrote. "Hope you are prepared to be voted out. Expect me to knock on every door I can to make sure of it."

"You're dancing around the fact that insurers can under this law make coverage of pre-existing conditions so expensive that it won't be affordable," Mike Thornton wrote.

Many commenters also requested a town hall meeting with Granger, who hasn't held a town hall meeting in her home district for years.

Since her statement on May 5, Granger has not made any further public comments on the AHCA.

A spokesperson for Granger did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

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