Protect Our Care: Trump's Real Health Care Agenda is Clear – Take Coverage Away From Millions and Gut Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 -- Protect Our Care issued the following news:

As Trump and his Republican allies spin lies about health care during the Republican National Convention, he and his administration are actively plotting more health care sabotage.

One week after the election, on November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in California v. Texas, a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration to completely dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

If successful, Trump's lawsuit would rip away health care from more than 23 million Americans, end protections for more than 135 million people with pre-existing conditions and throw the entire American health care system into chaos - in the midst of a pandemic.

This is Trump's real health care agenda.

Fact Sheet On Trump Lawsuit To Overturn ACA (https://www.protectourcare.org/fact-sheet-on-trump-lawsuit-to-overturn-aca/)

President Trump is trying to rip apart our health care by going to court to eliminate the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. If the Trump lawsuit is successful, it will strip coverage from millions of Americans, raise premiums, end protections for people with pre-existing conditions, put insurance companies back in charge, and force seniors to pay more for prescription drugs. The result will be to -- as the Trump Administration itself admitted in Court -- unleash "chaos" in our entire health care system.

If the Affordable Care Act is struck down:

* GONE: Protections for 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. The uninsured rate will increase by 65 percent.

* GONE: Medicaid expansion, which covers 16 million people.

* GONE: Nearly 12 million seniors will have to pay more for prescription drugs because the Medicare 'donut hole' will be reopened.

* GONE: 2.3 million adult children will no longer be able to stay on their parents' insurance.

* GONE: Insurance companies will be able to charge women 50 percent more than men.

* GONE: Financial assistance that helps 9 million people purchase health care in the marketplace.

* GONE: Key support for rural hospitals. As Americans lose coverage, already struggling hospitals will be hit even harder as their costs increase.

* GONE: Ban on insurance companies having lifetime caps on coverage.

* GONE: Requirements that insurance companies cover prescription drugs and maternity care.

Thanks To The Republican Lawsuit, 20 Million People Could Lose Their Coverage

* According to the Urban Institute, 19.9 million people could lose coverage by repealing the Affordable Care Act, meaning the number of uninsured Americans would increase from 30.4 million to 50.3 million, representing a leading to a 65 percent increase in the uninsured rate. As the uninsured rate swells, so will the amount of uncompensated care, which Urban predicts will grow by at least 82 percent.

* States would lose important federal health care funding -- an estimated reduction of $135 billion in the first year. The Urban Institute estimates that a full repeal of the ACA would reduce federal spending on Medicaid/CHIP care and Marketplace subsidies by $135 billion, or 34.6 percent in the first year.

* Millions of children could lose their coverage. Almost three million children nationwide gained coverage thanks to the ACA. If the law is overturned, many of these children will lose their insurance.

* The percentage of people gaining health insurance under the ACA was higher for Latinos than for any other racial or ethnic group in the country. According to a study from Families USA, 5.4 million Latinos would lose coverage if the lawsuit succeeds in overturning the ACA.

Republicans Want To Put Insurance Companies Back In Charge, Ending Protections For The 135 Million People With A Pre-Existing Condition

* According to a recent analysis (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2019/10/02/475030/number-americans-preexisting-conditions-district-116th-congress/) by the Center for American Progress, roughly half of nonelderly Americans, or as many as 135 million people, have a pre-existing condition. This includes:

* 44 million people who have high blood pressure

* 45 million people who have behavioral health disorders

* 44 million people who have high cholesterol

* 34 million people who have asthma and chronic lung disease

* 34 million people who have osteoarthritis and other joint disorders

* More than 17 million children, 68 million women, and 32 million people aged 55-64 have a pre-existing condition.

Republicans Want To Give Insurance Companies The Power To Deny Or Drop Coverage Because Of A Pre-Existing Condition

Before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies routinely denied people coverage because of a pre-existing condition or canceled coverage when a person got sick. Now insurance companies have license to do this again.

* A 2010 congressional report found that the top four health insurance companies denied coverage to one in seven consumers on the individual market over a three year period.

* A 2009 congressional report found that the of the largest insurance companies had retroactively canceled coverage for 20,000 people over the previous five year period

* An analysis by Avalere finds that "102 million individuals, not enrolled in major public programs like Medicaid or Medicare, have a pre-existing medical condition and could therefore face higher premiums or significant out-of-pocket costs" if the Trump-GOP lawsuit is successful.

Republicans Want To Give Insurance Companies The Power To Charge You More, While Their Profits Soar

* 138 Million Americans Could Once Again Have To Pay For Preventive Care. Because of the ACA, health plans must cover preventive services -- like flu shots, cancer screenings, contraception, and mammograms - at no cost to consumers. This includes nearly 138 million Americans, most of whom have employer coverage.

* Premium Surcharges Can Once Again Be In The Six Figures. Thanks to the Republican lawsuit, insurance companies can charge people more because of a pre-existing condition. The House-passed repeal bill had a similar provision, and an analysis by the Center for American Progress found that insurers could charge up to $4,270 more for asthma, $17,060 more for pregnancy, $26,180 more for rheumatoid arthritis and $140,510 more for metastatic cancer.

* Women Can Be Charged More Than Men For The Same Coverage. Prior to the ACA, women, for example, were often charged premiums on the nongroup market of up to 50 percent higher than they charged men for the same coverage.

* People Over The Age of 50 Can Face A $4,000 "Age Tax." Thanks to the Republican lawsuit, insurance companies can charge people over 50 more than younger people. The Affordable Care Act limited the amount older people could be charged to three times more than younger people. If insurers were to charge five times more, as was proposed in the Republican repeal bills, that would add an average "age tax" of $4,124 for a 60-year-old in the individual market, according to the AARP.

* Nine Million People In The Marketplaces Will Pay More For Coverage. Thanks to the Republican lawsuit, consumers no longer have access to tax credits that help them pay their marketplace premiums, meaning roughly nine million people who receive these tax credits to pay for coverage will have to pay more.

* Seniors Will Have To Pay More For Prescription Drugs. Thanks to the Republican lawsuit, seniors will have to pay more for prescription drugs because the Medicare "donut" hole got reopened. From 2010 to 2016, "More than 11.8 million Medicare beneficiaries have received discounts over $26.8 billion on prescription drugs - an average of $2,272 per beneficiary," according to a January 2017 Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services report (https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/nearly-12-million-people-medicare-have-saved-over-26-billion-prescription-drugs-2010).

Republicans Want To Give Insurance Companies The Power To Limit The Care You Get, Even If You Have Insurance Through Your Employer

* Reinstate Lifetime and Annual Limits On 109 Million Privately Insured Americans. Repealing the Affordable Care Act means insurance companies would be able to impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage for those insured through their employer or on the individual market.

* Insurance Companies Do Not Have to Provide the Coverage You Need. The Affordable Care Act made comprehensive coverage more available by requiring insurance companies to include "essential health benefits" in their plans, such as maternity care, hospitalization, substance abuse care and prescription drug coverage. Before the ACA, people had to pay extra for separate coverage for these benefits. For example, in 2013, 75 percent of non-group plans did not cover maternity care, 45 percent did not cover substance abuse disorder services, and 38 percent did not cover mental health services. Six percent did not even cover generic drugs.

* Large Employers Could Choose to Follow Any State's Guidance, Enabling Them Put Annual and Lifetime Limits on Their Employees' Health Care. Without the ACA's definition of essential health benefits (EHB) in even some states, states could eliminate them altogether. Large employers could choose to apply any state's standard, making state regulations essentially meaningless. Because the prohibition on annual and lifetime limits only applies to essential health benefits, this change would allow employers to reinstate annual and lifetime limits on their employees' coverage.

Republicans Want To End Medicaid Expansion

* Sixteen Million People Enrolled Through Medicaid Expansion Could Lose Coverage.

* Access To Treatment Would Be In Jeopardy For 800,000 People With Opioid Use Disorder. Roughly four in ten, or 800,000 people with an opioid use disorder are enrolled in Medicaid. Many became eligible through Medicaid expansion.

* Key Support For Rural Hospitals Would Disappear, leaving hospitals with $9.6 billion more in uncompensated care.