"Texas alone has approximately 190,000 enrollees in its individual market with pre-existing chronic conditions, nearly 80,000 more people than the funds earmarked for the entire country would cover," Avalere said. "Florida has 205,000, nearly 95,000 more than the funds allotted nationally ... would cover."
The study was released hours before the House was expected to vote on the Republican bill.
That bill would allow states to obtain waivers for insurers that would let those companies charge sicker people more money for coverage than healthier people if they let their insurance plans lapse, as long as the state creates a program to give those sicker people financial aid for their coverage.
To offset some of the cost of those higher charges, the bill also sets aside funding to subsidize coverage for people with pre-existing conditions through high-risk pools in individual states.
But Obamacare defenders have said that past efforts by states that ran high-risk pools for such people have failed to cover enough people, and did not have adequate funding.
Avalere's analysis suggests that history could repeat itself if the Republican bill becomes law.
"Given the amount of funding in the bill, the program can only afford a few small states to opt into medical underwriting," said Caroline Pearson, senior vice president at Avalere. Medical underwriting is the practice of determining health insurance rates based on an individual customer's health status.
"If any large states receive a waiver, many chronically ill individuals could be left without access to insurance," Pearson said.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/04/gops...le-with-pre-existing-conditions-analysis.html
The study was released hours before the House was expected to vote on the Republican bill.
That bill would allow states to obtain waivers for insurers that would let those companies charge sicker people more money for coverage than healthier people if they let their insurance plans lapse, as long as the state creates a program to give those sicker people financial aid for their coverage.
To offset some of the cost of those higher charges, the bill also sets aside funding to subsidize coverage for people with pre-existing conditions through high-risk pools in individual states.
But Obamacare defenders have said that past efforts by states that ran high-risk pools for such people have failed to cover enough people, and did not have adequate funding.
Avalere's analysis suggests that history could repeat itself if the Republican bill becomes law.
"Given the amount of funding in the bill, the program can only afford a few small states to opt into medical underwriting," said Caroline Pearson, senior vice president at Avalere. Medical underwriting is the practice of determining health insurance rates based on an individual customer's health status.
"If any large states receive a waiver, many chronically ill individuals could be left without access to insurance," Pearson said.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/04/gops...le-with-pre-existing-conditions-analysis.html
