Here are five ways the newest version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), also referred to as Trumpcare, can affect Americans.
Americans with pre-existing conditions could get less coverage and be charged more premium.
People with pre-existing conditions coverage options could be seriously affected by this bill. States would be able to apply for waivers to exempt insurance companies from a community rating provision and allow them to charge far higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the community rating provision is created to spread the risk evenly across a larger pool. This means that people are charged the same rate regardless of factors like health status. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies may charge different rates for identical plans only on the basis of age, geographic location, the number of people covered and tobacco use.
Younger people could get cheaper plans.
In Obamacare, younger policyholders would help subsidize older ones. That would change under the Affordable Care Act because insurers could charge older Americans more.
According to a study by the Milliman actuarial firm on behalf of the AARP Public Policy Institute, enrollees ages 20 to 29 would save about $700 to $4,000 a year, on average. This means that younger Americans would likely see their annual premiums go down.
People under age 30 would also get a refundable tax credit of up to $2,000 to offset the cost of their premiums, as long as their income doesn’t exceed $215,000 for an individual.
Also, young adults up to age 26 will still be able to stay on their parents’ insurance plan.
In some states, healthy consumers can buy cheaper policies.
Obamacare requires insurers to provide comprehensive health care coverage, including maternity, mental health, prescription drugs and substance abuse. This comprehensive coverage, however, raises premiums and provides unnecessary services to some consumers.
The bill would allow states to waive this federal mandate, which would allow insurers to offer skinnier plans that offer fewer benefits with lower premiums.
Poor adults, low-income children, women, senior citizens and the disabled could be left uninsured.
Obamacare contains many provisions to help poor and lower-income Americans. It expanded Medicaid to cover adults who earn up to $16,400 a year. Also, Obamacare provides those with incomes just under $30,000 with generous subsidies to lower their deductibles and out-of-pocket costs in individual market policies. The American Health Care Act would eliminate the subsidies and end the enhanced federal Medicaid funding for new enrollees starting in 2020. States would likely have to either reduce eligibility, curtail benefits or cut provider payments.
Older Americans could have to pay more.
According to the Milliman study for the AARP, adults ages 60 to 64 will see their annual premiums raise 22%. Those in their 50’s would be hit with a 13% increase and pay an annual premium of $12,800.
States could also receive waivers to allow insurers to charge older Americans even more than five times the premiums of the young.
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